I’m Not a Cheater…

I had not been to see her in about two weeks. I guess she has become accustomed to my frequent visits, because the first thing she said to me when I walked in this morning was:
“Where in the hell have YOU been? You’re cheating on me, aren’t you?!”

This caught me completely off guard. I finished filling my coffee cup, then looked directly at her… yet I said nothing.

“You’re going up the street I bet. That must be it.” she continued.

“Oh baby, the only place I’d ever cheat on you is at home. You should know better than that,” I said to her.

On the cigarette shelf behind her was a small but visible Birthday card. She had hung it there to share with everyone. I asked her if today was her birthday and she told me she was fifty four today. I wished her a happy birthday and asked her if she was going to eat cake. Turns out she doesn’t like cake. But she said she would take a blueberry pie any day.

It’s funny when you think about it. (In general) the people that work in customer service that we see on a regular basis probably know more about us than we do them– based soley on watching us. Rarely do we ever take the time to learn something about them. It isn’t a lack of concern – at least not in my case. More often than not – when I stop in to get my coffee, the store is pretty busy, leaving little time for conversation.

She then told me that today was her “Friday”, and said that she would be celebrating with friends tonight. I wished her a safe birthday and told her the following joke:

A man gets on an elevator. On his way up, a woman gets on. She looks at him and smiles, and says, “TGIF!” He replies, “S.H.I.T.”

She looks at the man, puzzled. She says again, “T.G.I.F.?”
Again, the man smiles and says, “S.H.I.T.”
Exasperated, the woman says – “T.G.I.F. … Thank God It’s FRIDAY… DUH!”
The man looks at the woman, shakes his head, and says: “S.H.I.T. Sorry, Honey. It’s THURSDAY. — DUH.”

(Yes it is an old joke. but the woman at the convenience store liked it and I wished her a happy birthday and went back to work.)

Speaking of S.H.I.T.…

The Muffin Man

Following your daily routine, you back your car out of the driveway, and head to work. Along the way, you stop at that corner store — only two blocks from your house. There, you purchase one of those huge (oat bran since you are trying to make pseudo healthy choices) muffins, and a cup of coffee. You purchase this with your bank card.

You place the coffee one cup holder and the muffin in the other. You catch 4 out of the 6 traffic lights green, traffic flows smoothly, nobody cuts in front of you without signaling. Oh, Yah. Beautiful.

Seven minutes later, you arrive at work. You pull into the parking lot, you lock your steering wheel with your (THE CLUB) device, put your sun shade in your windshield, put your sunglasses in the center console, and grab your coffee and muffin. You lock the car, setting the alarm as you do so, and begin to walk towards the building in which you work.

You hear a voice behind you. “Excuse me. Excuse me. EXCUSE ME.” You turn, and you see a very thin woman with worn clothes, and messy hair. This does not surprise you; you have become accustomed to seeing various displaced or homeless persons walking around the area.

“Do you have a dollar so I can get me something to eat?” she asks.

You apologize, and tell her that you have no cash. You look at her hold out the muffin. She looks at it briefly, wrapped in its cellophane (it remains unopened).

She looks at you and says “No, thank you… you don’t got a dollar?”

peroTHE-ORY

I have not been very mindful of my body’s nutritional needs. I began to falter in September or October, I cannot remember which.

Gradually, I stopped making up reasons why I should be able to have the forbidden foods; and I began to just eat whatever – whenever – how much ever I pleased. I have only myself to blame for this. I am not sick, but I am not healthy. I feel lethargic and crappy most of the time. I have not been sleeping well. I have the power to change this.

This evening, I went grocery shopping. I made my selections based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the body’s Yin-Yang balance. If you are still reading, that means that you are not closed minded to holistic approaches. If you are about to stop reading because you have no idea what I am talking about, hang with me for a minute and I will share with you what I have learned in the past few days during my research efforts.

I’m pretty sure that many of you have seen the Seinfeld episode where George goes to see the Shaman Kramer recommended to him. The guy speaks slowly and seems like he is sedated. He talks about Yin and Yang and Hot and Cold (opposites of this and that) and later gives George tea, which turns him purple. This is not exactly like that. But for those of you that will be unwilling to read the links I have included, I’ll say this – will serve as the short version: foods can be categorized into 3 groups: Yin foods, Yang foods, and Neutral foods. If you eat too much of one and not enough of the other, your body’s balance is — well NOT balanced. This is said to cause a variety of illnesses and symptoms.

Another (closely related if not directly related) concept has to do with foods being either acid or alkaline producing – and from what I’ve read I eat a LOT of acid producing foods and not enough alkaline producing foods. I am working on improving things based on all of this.

There is a wealth of information out there, If you are interested, I can recommend these search terms: yin imbalance, yang imbalance, macrobiotic food list, acid alkaline food list… things like that.

At this point, all I have done is read a LOT of text on the theories and practices and I just bought foods that are much better for me than the types of things I have been eating in the past months. Most of what I have read is not in opposition to what my doctors have recommended, and what I KNOW I should do as far as healthy lifestyle and eating habits… it is just more detailed in when to eat the different types of foods and how doing so might benefit me.

Quest for Sleep

… I’ve been away. I realize that it is very likely that many people have given up on “this”. That’s o.k., really. I mean, I write for me–and share for … well, anyone that is curious. Tonight, I have returned with the inention of complaining for a while.

My head hurts. One of the questions I hate the most — although I have had to use the same question when trying to assess someone’s pain level — is, “On a scale of 1-10— ten being the worst pain imaginable — how would you rate your pain right now?”

. . . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. . .

Once, when my doctor asked me that, I replied, “Well, to me, 10 would be something like, ‘help me, my arm is caught in the meat grinder,’ so, I guess I’d say this is more like a 2 or 3. Unless I try to bend the knee, and put my full weight on it; then on some days it is a 5. I don’t think I’ve ever had a level 10 pain. I hope I never do.”

As it is now, my headache is not really a sharp pain, but more of an annoyance. it is located at the back of my head – where my skull connects to my spine. It’s more muscular or soft tissue than bone and joint related, and the ache runs from the back of my head down to the middle of my shoulders, just between the shoulder blades (trapezius) and feels like more of a deep muscle pain. (huh)

During the past month, I have been sleeping better but not a full eight hours type better; just better than I usually do with my three to four hours a night. My quest for a solid night’s rest continues. I have tried a few ‘natural’ remedies (kava root with melatonin and valerian root) and similar herbs over the past few months, only to learn that the Valerian tends to trigger my pollen related allergies, and the Kava with Melatonin increases my heart rate significantly.

Antihistamines like Diphenhydramine (the stuff in Benadryl and Tylenol (Acetomeniphen) PM and other “PM” pain relievers) work – BUT in all honesty I am not in pain on most nights and I feel that all of these pain relievers and their effects on a person’s liver just isn’t worth it.

Now I have to start over (by researching the options) available… my #1 priority is that it be non-habit forming, because I am a long-term recurring insomniac (since childhood) and the sleeplessness cycle is in an endless loop.