Just got back from a birthday BBQ over at Statia and Meester‘s house.  They had a surprise guest - Kathy!  How cool is that?

Except that whenever bloggers get together, you never know what’s going to show up on someone’s site the next day.  Like, for instance, I could mention the sparkling white… oh no wait - this is a family blog - no mentioning of the unmentionables.  OK, then, how about the 12-grain org… Nope, can’t talk about that one, either! 

Oh well - suffice it to say that we had a very good time and, Meester?  Good cake, dude!  Not enough of it, of course, but it was good. 

I miss Miss M.  Son of a beetch

Well, folks, I just finished lunch.  And I gotta say that, with two very small exceptions, today’s food officially sucked so far.

Breakfast?  I was hungry so I went with the breakfast buffet.  The eggs were overcooked and cold.  The French toast?  Like ice - and not even a full slice of bread!  The sausage was inedible - some weird taste that made me think the meat had turned.  I actually checked it to see if it was green.  But the potatoes were magnificent!  Red potatoes with onions and green peppers - wonderful!  I saved them until last and I’m glad I did.

Lunch?  I was tempted by the seafood pasta primavera salad, which I know is delicious, but which takes me a long time to eat because I have to keep picking out the small pieces of tomato all through it.  So I opted for the tortilla-crusted tilapia with tartar sauce.  Ew.  Not good.  How do you mess up tartar sauce??  It’s mayonnaise and relish, people!  I think the tortillas they used to coat the tilapia were actually nacho-cheese flavored Doritos.  It was not a good match.  But at least it was really dry!  The sides?  Freezing cold onion rings and cole slaw.  And the cole slaw?  Again - something turned.  It was rancid!!  I think I had three bites total of my lunch.

So I went and got myself some rice pudding to comfort me.  It worked.

I think I finally came up with a diagnosis of what is wrong with my neck.  Not that I’d ever think to go to the doctor or anything...no!  After reading a whole lot, I believe that I have a herniated cervical disk.  All of the symptoms are right and it’s not life-threatening - which means that must be what it is! 

The thing is, I’ve been taking NSAIDs off and on (I should probably try taking them consistently) and I don’t do anything rigorous or strenuous - EVER - so it’s not like I’m stressing it.  However, I’m probably sitting wrong at the computer or while watching TV or whatever.  I’d like to find some appropriate and gentle exercises to help with this but - again - no doctors allowed!

I’m thinking of doing some yoga and I did find one yoga DVD specifically for neck and shoulder problems.  But it’s out of stock everywhere I’ve looked.  And I’m not a patient person (see?  NO doctors!).  Do you think that I’d hurt myself by doing my basic back yoga?  Of course, the DVD I have for that is defective and sometimes freezes during the show.  Very frustrating and, trust me, that’s the last feeling you want to have while doing yoga!

Grrr.  I want to fix this and I want to fix it NOW! 

I’m about to resurrect an old interest of mine.  I don’t know that I’ll be able to do anything with it (I wasn’t able to before but I was looking for something different back then) but it will be fun to try again.

Back in 1993, I took a home course in Medical Transcription.  I had the equipment, I passed my training with a 4.0 average - I even went on some job interviews.  I was asking for too much money and I wanted to work from home exclusively to stay home with my kids.  That didn’t work out but I could do the work.  And it fascinated me!

Well, I find myself in want of some spare cash.  I am trying to come up with something I could do on a part-time basis to bring in a little extra dough.  Right off the bat, anything to do with the public in any way is thrown right out.  I can’t deal with the public in any capacity whatsoever.  That really curtails my options for a part-time job!

So I’m hoping that I might be able to come up with some part-time or per diem work in the medical transcription field.  I have no experience but I am trained and I’ve ordered a refresher course - and it’s advanced.  Maybe that could get my foot in the door somewhere.  Who knows?

It’s also fun to anticipate getting back into some sort of schooling, especially something that I totally enjoy doing!

(If anyone out there needs a gung-ho medical transcriptionist to work from home part-time or per diem, let me know!  I also can do all sorts of typing, some light bookkeeping, light desktop publishing, and proofreading!)

We all have our strengths, things that we’re good at, things at which we excel, right?

I do.  I can’t think of any at the moment, but surely I’m good at something!  (Must look into that!)

But one thing that I can’t do to save my life is to plan a surprise.  No matter if I take six months to think it all out or if it’s a spur of the moment thing.  It just doesn’t work out for me.  And, inevitably, I end up pouting because of it.  It’s no one’s fault - it just doesn’t happen for me.

Tonight, I sort of made a plan in my head.  I ran through all of the possible deterrents to my plan and decided to take the bull by the horns and make sure that my plan was viable.  I says to Buzz, I says, “Are you going to want another glass of wine tonight?”

With much fear and trepidation, I awaited his answer.  I trembled a bit. 

He said - “Yes, I will.”

Oh the relief!  The weight off my shoulders!!

‘Cause, folks, the plan I formulated - the big surprise?  Was the next bottle of wine.  I chose the next bottle of wine.  And it’s a surprise and it worked!!

Sadly, that’s the level of surprise planning I can safely aspire to.  But it’s something, right?  I’m like king of geeks or the very best at giving bad massages.  I am good at formulating tiny, safe-and-sound plans!

Yeah, baby!!!

Actually, it was only me - I slept in.  Which would be fine, if this were a weekend or vacation day, but it’s not and now I’m late!

So what do I do?  Sit down to write in my blog.  What’s wrong with that? 

Stress is a major inhibitor to my productivity.

I just want to sit with my head in my hands because I don’t know what to attack next.  There’s too much.  Too much.