I Remembered a Dream!

Since I started having sleeping difficulties I haven't been able to remember my dreams.

But I remember my dream from last night!!!

Ewan McGregor was my best friend. (Guess I better learn how to ride a motorbike.)

I was managing a band that had two girls and three guys in it, and of course they were being all Fleetwood-Mac-like: bed hopping and arguing over who was cheating on who, and I had to keep them all sane. So of course they all hated me...and I had Ewan McGregor's shoulder to cry on!

I was still married to Jason, and would regularly call him to whine about the band, but I never could get him to believe that I even knew Ewan (I can call him by his first name since we're such good pals) let alone that he was my best friend.

I was living with the girls in a condo in New York City similar to this one...
...except there was a back yard complete with snooty neighbors.

And the papparazzi followed us (Ewan and me) all over the place.

The dream ended when one of the girls disappeared and the cops came to get her stuff. We found all sorts of medical records documenting that she was insane and a total lunatic...but I'm pretty sure one of the guys killed her.

Dreams are fun.

I quote Charley Boorman, "I like my mate Ewan. He looks after me." Me too!

Fingers Like Snakes and Spiders in My Hair

Check out Jason's Jack-o-Lantern all lit up! No big surprise that he's masterful at carving pumpkins (visit his shop! www.treeskinstructures.etsy.com)

I didn't carve a pumpkin. Too messy for me this year. Some years I don't mind all the guts and seeds and then eventually tossing the mushy mess, but this year it just wasn't going to happen.
Check out the candy we got! We found that it wasn't much more money to buy full size candy bars from Costco than buying junky little candies from Wal Mart. And since we have to leave the Blazer parked outside, I figured a little bribery to make the neighborhood kids like us wouldn't hurt. We did get some caramels and Double Bubble in case the good stuff ran out, but it turns out we didn't need to. We still had over half a bowl left last night when we finally turned our lights off. I guess we'll just have to eat it all ourselves! Except the Double Bubble. That stuff is nasty.
Jason's (on the left) and Kim's (on the right) Jack-o-Lanterns survived the night...but they didn't survive that weird fuzzy black stuff. Eeeeew.
We didn't decorate too much outside, just a bit of spider web so the trick-or-treaters would know that we were in fact passing out candy. The funny thing is that this is how those bushes looked when we moved in...except there were at least twice as many spider webs.
Here's part of what greeted the kids when we opened the door for them...
And this is the fellow who did most of the passing-out-candy bit. He received lots of compliments, and he made sure to not stare at the really little kids so they wouldn't get too scared. It was very very creepy to be stared at by Zombie Jason.
"All he wants is to eat your brains!"
Kitties don't like Halloween very much.

We shut the lights off at 9:30pm, and watched the movie Trick 'r Treat.

Yay!!! It's been at "Very Long Wait" from Netflix forever, so when Jason found it at the store we just bought a copy. It's a dangerous thing to buy a movie before you've seen it, but it was well worth it this time. A fantastic movie for anybody who can appreciate a good horror film. (And if you're a Battlestar Galactica fan--Helo is in it!!! Squeee!!!)

A Bedtime Story

I hate that sleep is a requirement.

I think sleeping is a total waste of time. Think of all the amazing things you could learn, read, accomplish, etc., if you didn't have to sleep!

I've always been a night person, but lately my "nights" have turned into a 2am bedtime, which means I'm waking up around 10am, and therefore I'm not finishing up work until 8pm....HA! That's a lie. I usually finish working around midnight. My self-discipline has disappeared. It's so hard to sit in my office and work while Jason and Kim get to have fun all day. I know they'd much rather have jobs, but still! I hear them laughing and see them doing fun things, and I have to sit in my room and read boring crap all day long.

But I digress.

For the last six months or so, I have been tired. No matter how much I sleep, I still feel like I could crawl back into bed and keep sleeping. And Jason, poor Jason, he can hardly sleep at all because my snoring has been getting steadily worse. Yes, I snore. Loudly. I've woken myself up snoring at least three times. Snoring runs in the family, but I've got an edge on them.
Here's the story.

So nine or ten years ago I was dating this fellow named Nick. Nick was not chivalrous nor any form of "gentleman," but I do have to add that at that time I was a rather head-strong, "modern" girl. I firmly believed that girls could and should ask boys out, call boys, and **PLOT POINT! PLOT POINT!** open our own doors.

Ladies, there's a reason girls aren't supposed to do these things. But in the interests of keeping this blog on task, I'll stick to this single point--let your date open the door for you.

I was on a double date with Nick, his friend, and his friend's girlfriend. We had gone to see a movie at our local Edward's Theater...

As we were walking out, I opened the door and turned my face back to the left, assuming Nick would be holding the door behind me. Alas, he wasn't even nearby...and the closing door smacked me in the face. (Here's where I add, just because I want to, that he was having a grand ol' time chatting with his friend and not even paying attention to me, something he regularly did whenever there was someone, anyone, else around that he knew. Once when I pointed this out to him, his reasoning was "Well I see you all the time and I hardly ever see *insert name of acquaintance here*.")

Door hitting the nose. Ouch. Tears to my eyes. Laughter from Nick and his friends. I said that I probably broke it because it hurt so much, to which Nick replied indignantly, "You didn't break it! If you broke it your nose would be bleeding."

If you're reading this Nick, a nose can be broken and not bleed. The bleeding happens if it's an open break, as in the bone breaks through the skin causing a laceration.

My nose was broken. And the bastard didn't even get me ice.

Most of your nose is cartilage, which means it never stops growing/getting bigger (same with your ears). So today, my nose is even worse than it was that day. It's a pretty badly deviated septum. I had a brain MRI five years ago, and it was pretty comical to see how my nose basically leapt onto the left side of my face. And now, every time I get a sinus headache, it's on the left. If I get a cold, it's on the left. And I can't sleep unless I'm on my left side...probably because I refuse to breathe through my mouth so if I want any oxygen I need to give my right nostril all the help I can. Here's a photo of some deviated septums so you can see what I'm working with.

So I talked to my primary care doctor about my sleeping problems, and she referred me to a pulmonologist, and she ordered a sleep study.

Last night Jason dropped me off at the sleep lab. It was in the basement of a medical office building. I got my own room, and it basically looked like a regular hotel room. Queen sized bed with a plush comforter and two flat pillows. Chair. TV in a cabinet. And there was a big bathroom with a shower. One big difference though--there was a surveillance camera and microphone in the ceiling.

I changed into my jammies, and watched some Project Runway. Then the tech came in to get me wired.

I can't even guess how many electrodes she pasted onto my scalp. (And I'm ever so grateful that the paste didn't pull any hair out with it this morning!) She put an electrode in the middle of my forehead, on my left temple, on my chin, under my chin, and the center of my throat. She hooked me up to a cardiac monitor, which means leads on my chest. She put two leads on each of my legs. Then she put an elastic band around my chest, and another around my belly (to see which muscles I was using to breathe). And she put some nasal prongs on, plus another sensor hanging over my mouth so they could measure my air flow. And finally, she put a pulse oximeter (oxygen level probe thing) onto my finger.

All the wires were hooked to a little box, and she told me that if I had to get up during the night to just say out loud "I need to get up," and wait for her to come and help me. Yeah, I woke up needing to go to the bathroom....but I totally held it.

Here's a photo so you can see what I'm talking about. And this ain't me!!! I wasn't about to ask for a picture of myself all hooked up! I didn't even want to look in the mirror.

So the tech left, and I'm laying in bed trying to sleep when I notice that my finger probe is making my finger tip glow red. Immediately I started doing my E.T. impersonation..."Ooooouuch...E.T. phone home!!" And then I remembered that she could see and hear everything I was doing. Doh!

I eventually fell asleep. I remember waking up a few times, but as soon as I remembered where I was I told my bladder to shut the hell up, and went back to sleep.

I had a dream in the morning that the tech came back in, unhooked everything, and I went home. Such a bummer to wake up, still hooked to everything, and not home yet.

Anyway, when I was finally unplugged I went to the bathroom (and there was much rejoicing, yay!!)...and looked in the mirror. Gross!!! The paste left little craters all over me! It was like I had enormous white zits on my face that had ruptured. And my scalp was itching like mad, but if I tried to scratch it I just got goops of paste all over my finger!

I had told Jason that I would call him when I woke up so he could come pick me up (I can't drive at night unless I want to wreck the car), but there was no signal in my room and my phone had died. So I hurried and got dressed so I could get outside and use my will power to make the phone call Jason...but wouldn't you know it? He was already there, with a cup of hot chocolate and the heater running.

I may have dated a bunch of assholes, but at least I married my Prince/Knight in Shining Armor/Hero/Love of My Life.

I have an appointment in two weeks to find out the results of the sleep study. I'm pretty sure my messed up nose is the culprit, and I'm trying to psych myself up to get it fixed. I've heard it's not a fun surgery to recover from. But it would be very nice to actually feel rested when I wake up, and to not have to worry about staying awake until Jason falls asleep so the poor guy can actually get some sleep.

Well, that's my story.

And oh yeah, Monsters vs Aliens sucked. The single redeeming factor was Seth Rogen's laughter. It's infectious.

Maybe It's Marty and Doc Brown?

From FoxNews: (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568528,00.html?test=latestnews)

Scientists claim the giant atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being jinxed from the future to save the world.In a bizarre sci-fi theory, Danish physicist Dr Holger Bech Nielsen and Dr Masao Ninomiya from Japan claim nature is trying to prevent the LHC from finding the elusive Higgs boson.

Called the "God particle," the theoretical boson could explain the origins of mass in the universe — ifphysicists can find the darn thing.The scientists say their math proves nature will "ripple backward through time" to stop the LHC before it can create the God particle, like a time traveller who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.“One could even almost say that we have a model for God,” Dr Nielsen says in an unpublished essay. “He rather hates Higgs particles, and attempts to avoid them.”

"While it is a paradox to go back in time and kill your grandfather, physicists agree there is no paradox if you go back in time and save him from being hit by a bus," Dannis Overbye wrote in theNew York Times."

In the case of the Higgs and the collider, it is as if something is going back in time to keep the universe from being hit by a bus."“It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” Dr Nielsen told theNew York Times.

European science agency CERN designed the world's biggest particle accelerator to shoot beams around a freezing 27km concrete ring underground near Geneva, smashing atoms together in search of the elusive "God particle" believed present at the Big Bang.The multi-billion-dollar machine, built over almost 20 years, was set to launch in late 2008 but broke down after it overheated during a test run.The relaunch was pushed back to late 2009 as more parts had to be replaced, and CERN was recently scandalised when a LHC scientist was found to have approached al-Qaeda for work.

The LHC - which features in sci-fi plots such as Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and the new TV showFlashForward - has been dubbed a "doomsday device" with claims it will open black holes.

Last year, Professor Brian Cox of Manchester University told the UK Telegraph that LHC scientists had received threatening emails and phone calls demanding that the experiment be halted.

But Prof Cox, ex-keyboardist for 1990's pop group D:REAM, dismissed the hysteria in rock-star style."Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a tw—," he said.

The LHC is set to start up again next month.

Product Plugs

If this isn't a recession, then I'm a millionaire.

One of the best ways to help our economy is to go shopping.

Really! When you buy stuff, someone has to make it, someone has to sell it, etc. Just make sure you're doing your very best to buy stuff Made in America.

In that spirit, here's some of my un-endorsed, un-sponsored plugs.

First and foremost, www.BakeItPretty.com. I must disclose that my friend Amanda is the entrepreneur behind this store. But I say that just like I would stand up in a theater and shout out to everyone, "I know that actor!!! I know him!! *cough, Gary Sinise, cough*"

She sells all manners of whimsy related to parties. And it's the kind of stuff you aren't going to find at Zurcher's or Target. Here's a little video her sister made using items from her shop.

And here is just a wee sample of some of the things in her shop that I'm crazy about. (All pictures copied from her website)

All those cute cupcake toppers actually make me want to bake something!! Do check out her shop. She also has gift certificates in case you (like me) don't bake that often but you know people who would go crazy over her stuff.

Onto my next plug!

This is a Playstation 3 game where you are a little SackPerson, and you're navigating a crazy world similar to something Tim Burton might have dreamed up. Only there's very little sinister and a whole lot of whimsy. There aren't many video games I can play because I get motion sickness so easily. And although this is very much a 3D-esque game, I can play it without getting sick!! Wahoo!!! It's a very interactive game as well, since you can decorate everything in the entire game, and even design your own levels which you can then upload to the internet so anyone can play them. This game is fun enough that I got up early today so I can get off work early and play!! That's serious motivation. I don't even do that for new Guitar Hero games. We bought our copy at Costco, and got the Game of the Year edition, which included all of the available download content. Sweet. Here's a trailer so you can see what I'm talking about, and then you can go get yourself a PS3 (which plays blu ray movies and you can surf the internet with it!) and then buy this game!

This is kind of a plug, but it's a little different. I've been back on (generic) Paxil for almost two months now.
I've noticed a huge difference in my mood swings and stress level, which is fantastic since I'm only taking 10mg which is a very low dose. My only issue with this is that I've been extra fatigued/sleepy since I got back on it. My doctor assures me that after three months that effect will go away. I hope so! It really stinks being sleepy all the time, especially when you still get insomnia.
And my final plug! I've been a Noxzema girl since I started washing my face forever ago. But the shower in this house has narrow ledges that don't accommodate the large Noxzema tubs. So I got the pump...and it kept switching from a creamy consistency to a Noxzema-water, and then back. It's hard to wash your face with Noxzema-water! Kim recommended this Clean and Clear Cleanser...and I'm in love!!! It still gives me that cool clean feeling that Noxzema did, but it has a better consistency and is easier to apply. And my skin has been feeling softer, and I've been getting fewer break outs/oily spots/dryness. Yay!!! No offense, Noxzema, but you've definitely been replaced.

**Just one more time, I have to clarify for the FCC (or whoever) that I have not gotten anything free from any of the folks I just plugged. Although I'm always willing to take free stuff!!**

Now go shopping, everybody!!