Dan and Allie 

and a drunk Joyce 

At the festival of lights 

At the dog park with Princess  

Stuck in a tube at Chuckie Cheese 

Decorating cookies 

Pretty in Pink 

Happy New Year! 

Blackout 2006

On Tuesday morning here in NYC, the lights went out again...briefly! And only for me! I took a red-eye flight back from Las Vegas and due to weather problems, a drunken passenger who had to be escorted off the plane, etc., we ended up not actually Leaving Las Vegas until after 2 a.m., which meant that I wouldn't get in until 9 a.m. Which is fine, I had called Mr. McGee to let him know that I wouldn't be getting into work until 11 or so...off the plane I go and head to baggage claim - tired, but fine. While I'm waiting for my bags, I start to feel really warm all of a sudden and then really clammy and then I feel like I'm going to throw up. So I head to the ladies room, but of course there is a line and by now I really feel like I'm going to throw up and will someone be nice enough to let me go ahead of them? And I'm just about to ask, when everything starts spinning and I feel like I'm in a tunnel and I can't hear anything at all and I feel like I've asked them to help me, but I'm not sure since I didn't hear myself say anything and I feel myself slumping down... and she's out! Lucky for me, there is an airport worker standing next to me in line so she helps me up and into the stall since I told her I was going to be sick and she waits for me to finish and then calls a cop to help me and take down my info and then he calls a paramedic to check out my vital signs... I started crying as I sat there waiting for the medic because I felt so scared - nothing like this has ever happened to me before; the sickest I've been was when I had chicken pox and when I had pneumonia in college but I had people around me to help out - friends or family - and now here I am in the middle of the airport surrounded by strangers, how am I supposed to get my bags? How am I supposed to get home? But everyone was nice and helpful but was embarrassing to black out like that, I was sure they all thought I was a drug addict or something. And I was scared because of course my first thought is that I have a brain tumor or something really serious. Turns out, I just needed orange juice. This was the helpful advice of the medic who said "I'll bet you that's what the doctor tells you" and it turns out she was right. When checked, the doctor said my blood sugar and blood pressure was really low, most likely due to a virus of some sort. So when I finally got home that afternoon, I ended up sleeping all day until about 11 p.m. or so, eating some Grape Nuts and some chocolate (I had no food in the house) and then going back to sleep until the next morning...I did go to work yesterday, but mainly to sort of test the waters, I knew I needed to get up and see how bad or good I felt...and I still feel weak and dizzy, but it's better - I feel as if I've had a couple glasses of wine, a little tipsy and slow moving... I'm kind of wary when I'm walking, I still feel like my balance is off and that I might fall, but that fainting/tunnel-like thing is gone, thank god, but the thing that scared me so much is that I literally felt fine one second and in 10 more seconds, it came over me without any warning.
So I'm trying to take it easy and rest a lot, and I've been thinking this incident is a blessing in disguise...because part of my resolution for this year is to not let my job stress me out like it did last year. That happened because I allowed it to happen - I started to care too much about it and put it on my priority list higher than it needs to be and this caused me a lot of unhappiness, a few health issues, and I put a few things for myself on hold because of it. Or I would get home after working late, so exhausted, and for what? This is not my life, this is what I do to pay my bills and enable me to live my life, that's all. That being said, because I don't want this kind of blackout thing to happen again, I can't get stressed when something doesn't work, I can't work late, I can't get all wrapped up in the myriad of issues we have going on here on a regular basis - the issues aren't going away, so the most I can do is come in, take care of myself first and do my job and then go home - no extending myself above and beyond the call of duty - that should go towards writing the book I'm supposed to publish by the time I'm 45, right Mom? RIGHT. So instead of maybe making a resolution to not let my job get to me, and then keeping that up for a week before slipping right back into my previous pattern (as it happens with most New Year's resolutions), I got slapped in the face and kicked in the butt - NO YOU CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE. So I won't, I get it now.

So to summarize: blackout good, blackout bad...good luck, bad luck, who knows?
http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v175/__show_article/_a000175-000168.htm

Also: my congratulations to ZeusApollo as he has been promoted and raised to a loftier position in the court, complete with more gold for his coffers. He has been anointed with various oils and given a diamond-encrusted scepter to rule over his new empire complete with 4 subjects under him. He has assured me that even though it might be intimidating for me to have direct access to someone in a glorious position such as himself he will put my mind at ease - and I quote:
" little will change as a result of my new powers. True you may have to hone your obsequiousness a touch and praise me more here and there, but I won't be collecting a tithe or anything, at least not initially." ... and I so have sworn my allegiance to this new lord and master... the king is dead, long live the king!

Still in Las Vegas

Just a quick post to let you all know that I am still here in Las Vegas (I was supposed to be back at work today) and won’t be coming back to NYC until Sunday… a few things came up and I needed to change my flight so that I could stay a few more days to help out … the Overoye Family left this morning so I’m feeling a little sad about not having any more smooshies around to cuddle with … Santa was very good to all of us (tons of great toys for the kiddies and adults) and having the whole family here was so fantastic – we all don’t get to see each other very often and so when we can all be together, we have a lot of fun – I’ll post some pics as soon as I get back to NYC… Happy New Year by the way! And we do have Monday off right? I feel like I’ve been gone forever and totally out of the loop, but that’s a good thing because I was seriously stressed out, not feeling healthy (mentally and physically) before I left (and most of this year actually) and now I feel a lot stronger, a lot better so that’s a good thing, as Martha would say.