![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Blood & Sweat & Tears & Music
Sep. 10th, 2023 07:53 pmAfter a very restless night full of stress dreams about having blood drawn, I woke up early and sat around drinking water like a crazy person until it was time to get to Quest.
I didn't have to wait at all, I was seen right away, and the nurse was cheerful and kind which put me at ease. Of course I was still terrified, but it is so helpful just to know that someone is looking at you as a person, not an object to be poked and prodded.
I told her right away: "I am phobic about blood draws, and sometimes have a bad reaction. I will tell you if I feel bad or need to lie down, but should be fine otherwise. Just please be patient with me, and please don't try to make me watch the procedure!"
She was super kind, and took me to a room with a reclining chair so that I could be semi-horizontal during the blood draw.
She "oohed" over my veins--most nurses do, I have VERY prominent veins and VERY pale skin so you can see everything extremely easily--and said, "Wow, your veins are GREAT. This will go very quickly!"
And it did. I think she used a butterfly needle even though I hadn't asked for one; I barely felt the prick. And it couldn't have taken 30 seconds. I was absolutely elated! Reminder of how my last blood draw went earlier this summer: I had two nurses stabbing me multiple times and wiggling a needle around in my arm, demanding that I "LOOK AT IT" to see how the blood wasn't coming out, laughing and joking with each other while I was getting tunnel vision and on the verge of passing out. Today was a much, much better experience than that fiasco. I am NEVER having blood drawn at that doctor's office again; I'll go to Quest from now on. I thanked the nurse profusely and made sure to fill out the "How did we do?" card before leaving to describe how happy I was with the experience.
As I was walking back to my car I heard the familiar cry of the red-tailed hawk and saw a couple, perched on the corner of the building.
(CLICK HERE to see them)
Driving home I saw a hot air balloon coming in for a landing.
(CLICK HERE to watch)
This is a very common sight in our area, it's a tourist thing.
You'll always see them early in the morning when the air is still, the sky is clear, and it's still relatively cool.
The sunrise from up there must look amazing.
Back home I had breakfast and decompressed and got to work with data entry.
Jameson was on his way out the door for rehearsal and made sure to check that I was OK, what a sweetheart!
He is much more chipper these past few days, because of all the Disney gigs, and I'm very happy to see him happy!
Now I wish I could match his mood! I am just feeling so anxious and worried about everything lately. Very tired of it, but I'm not sure how to make it better other than keep plugging away at therapy.
Anyway, it was a very quiet day of data entry.
After lunch I went to Publix because we both need things but Jameson hasn't had time to grab anything.
I made our last HelloFresh for dinner, bulgogi meatballs. And had a drink.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday it was back to work-life as normal. I got up early and put in as many hours as I could all day.
In the afternoon I took a trip to Walmart for some exciting treats: pineapple Dole Whip in the freezer section! And Monster Mash cereal for Jameson! We both avoid Walmart like the plague, but sometimes they get really fun stuff that we just gotta try :)
More workworkwork, and I got up to 22 hours out of my usual 30, which I think is really great.
Also, I got my blood work results back already! Everything looks good...that is, very little has changed since I last got bloodwork in 2020. My cholesterol is down, yeehaw! One thing that has me slightly concerned is that I have low alkaline phosphatase...it's always been low, but it keeps getting lower. Most of my other results are normal or really close to normal, so I'm not sure what to make of it, but will be sure to ask. It's worth noting that no one has mentioned it to this point, though it's been low on every blood draw.
Anyway. I had hoped to get a walk in because it was amazingly cool outside for once; a big storm system blew through and the temp dropped below 80!! But I just had to catch up with work. Jameson got out of rehearsal early, so we ate and caught up with each other and relaxed. Tomorrow is the Disney event, D23! I made sure to share the livestream link everywhere that I could, because I'll be watching and I want other people to watch too! So proud of him! :D
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jameson had to get up at like 5:30am, so I was awake as well.
I tried to get back to sleep but couldn't because I was anxious about my own gig today (Spanish church).
Eventually got up and went for a short walk around the neighborhood before the sun was fully up.
Saw two hot air balloons in the sky.
Found these pretty purple flowers, which are on my usual route but I've never seen them before.
Probably close up when it gets too hot out.
I've seen this plant growing in a crack in a dividing wall for quite some time now.
Wonder how long it can last there. It looked pretty with dew on it.
Back home, breakfast and sending the link to the D23 livestream to everyone I know, then watching it myself when 9am rolled around. I got as many screenshots of the band as I could, which was hard work because the camera work was not great. Still, I got some nice ones!
It looks like they had a lot of fun! I was so proud :)
Jameson got home and told me all about everything as we ate lunch. It was a really great experience for him, especially being acknowledged for the work he put in (he ended up handling a lot of the cues between dialogue and music to take some of that burden off of the stage manager) and meeting some very talented folks including the Genie from Aladdin on Broadway, Jodi Benson (the voice of the animated Little Mermaid), several of the puppeteers of The Muppets, and a boatload of corporate Disney people. The band has one brief performance for tomorrow's D23 closing ceremony, and then he'll be done. But he's now got the Jollywood event to look forward to this Christmas, which is great!
After lunch I drove out to my gig, a huge Baptist church partway to Orlando.
(CLICK HERE to see sanctuary)
Did you see that big boom camera? It was IN MY FACE.
Luckily I've done shows with cameras like this before and have gotten good at ignoring them.
The other musicians were really nice, rehearsal went smoothly. We did have to make some changes to one piece, but that's what rehearsals are for! I really hit it off with the trumpet player, who was a former Carson Barnes circus guy, so we had a lot in common and were yapping any time there was a break in rehearsal. They church fed us a nice dinner of rice, beans, ground beef, and plantains (WAY better than my sad pile of nonperishables), then the pastor came and prayed over us, then off we went to put on a show.
Before leaving the house, I had given Jameson the link to the church's Spanish services page, because if they ended up streaming it that's where it'd appear. Sure enough, they did livestream it, so it was his turn to get screenshots of me!
That boom camera really WAS in my face a few times :p
They've since put up a video of the whole service. The music starts at timestamp 8:30 if you want to hear me play churchy stuff! (CLICK HERE to watch)
The service went well, there were some small mistakes from each of us but barely noticeable.
I thought we did really well. We gave hugs and thanks all around when we were done.
It would be nice to be asked to play for this church again! However I was filling in for their usual trombonist (my fried Mike again, who seems to know everyone and have ALL the gigs), so I have no illusions about it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday was thankfully chill for me as I wasn't feeling that great, no pinpointable reason so probably stress + Aunt Flo.
I did data entry work but there was nothing left after only an hour, and it being Sunday I can't expect more.
Jameson went to do the second part of his Disney gig, which I didn't get to watch because they chose not to livestream it. But I wrote my sister a letter, and cleaned the bathrooms, and wiped down my small trombone to go back into storage (I used it for the church gig.)
Then I decided, no, I'm done. And laid down on the bed for about an hour doing nothing but reading and watching TikTok.
Lunch and to the grocery store for ingredients for stuffed shells, one of Jameson's favorites.
Back home I again didn't do much...I think I needed a decompression day, mentally. Also my throat was feeling sore so maybe I'm coming down with something again? Really hope not.
I went for a truncated walk, but will share pictures from that in the next post as this one already has loads of pics :)
As I'm typing this Jameson is out with friends at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights (I'm going with him next weekend.) I hope he's having fun! I'm just going to binge-watch Wheel of Time and read until I fall asleep.
I didn't have to wait at all, I was seen right away, and the nurse was cheerful and kind which put me at ease. Of course I was still terrified, but it is so helpful just to know that someone is looking at you as a person, not an object to be poked and prodded.
I told her right away: "I am phobic about blood draws, and sometimes have a bad reaction. I will tell you if I feel bad or need to lie down, but should be fine otherwise. Just please be patient with me, and please don't try to make me watch the procedure!"
She was super kind, and took me to a room with a reclining chair so that I could be semi-horizontal during the blood draw.
She "oohed" over my veins--most nurses do, I have VERY prominent veins and VERY pale skin so you can see everything extremely easily--and said, "Wow, your veins are GREAT. This will go very quickly!"
And it did. I think she used a butterfly needle even though I hadn't asked for one; I barely felt the prick. And it couldn't have taken 30 seconds. I was absolutely elated! Reminder of how my last blood draw went earlier this summer: I had two nurses stabbing me multiple times and wiggling a needle around in my arm, demanding that I "LOOK AT IT" to see how the blood wasn't coming out, laughing and joking with each other while I was getting tunnel vision and on the verge of passing out. Today was a much, much better experience than that fiasco. I am NEVER having blood drawn at that doctor's office again; I'll go to Quest from now on. I thanked the nurse profusely and made sure to fill out the "How did we do?" card before leaving to describe how happy I was with the experience.
As I was walking back to my car I heard the familiar cry of the red-tailed hawk and saw a couple, perched on the corner of the building.
(CLICK HERE to see them)
Driving home I saw a hot air balloon coming in for a landing.
(CLICK HERE to watch)
This is a very common sight in our area, it's a tourist thing.
You'll always see them early in the morning when the air is still, the sky is clear, and it's still relatively cool.
The sunrise from up there must look amazing.
Back home I had breakfast and decompressed and got to work with data entry.
Jameson was on his way out the door for rehearsal and made sure to check that I was OK, what a sweetheart!
He is much more chipper these past few days, because of all the Disney gigs, and I'm very happy to see him happy!
Now I wish I could match his mood! I am just feeling so anxious and worried about everything lately. Very tired of it, but I'm not sure how to make it better other than keep plugging away at therapy.
Anyway, it was a very quiet day of data entry.
After lunch I went to Publix because we both need things but Jameson hasn't had time to grab anything.
I made our last HelloFresh for dinner, bulgogi meatballs. And had a drink.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday it was back to work-life as normal. I got up early and put in as many hours as I could all day.
In the afternoon I took a trip to Walmart for some exciting treats: pineapple Dole Whip in the freezer section! And Monster Mash cereal for Jameson! We both avoid Walmart like the plague, but sometimes they get really fun stuff that we just gotta try :)
More workworkwork, and I got up to 22 hours out of my usual 30, which I think is really great.
Also, I got my blood work results back already! Everything looks good...that is, very little has changed since I last got bloodwork in 2020. My cholesterol is down, yeehaw! One thing that has me slightly concerned is that I have low alkaline phosphatase...it's always been low, but it keeps getting lower. Most of my other results are normal or really close to normal, so I'm not sure what to make of it, but will be sure to ask. It's worth noting that no one has mentioned it to this point, though it's been low on every blood draw.
Anyway. I had hoped to get a walk in because it was amazingly cool outside for once; a big storm system blew through and the temp dropped below 80!! But I just had to catch up with work. Jameson got out of rehearsal early, so we ate and caught up with each other and relaxed. Tomorrow is the Disney event, D23! I made sure to share the livestream link everywhere that I could, because I'll be watching and I want other people to watch too! So proud of him! :D
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jameson had to get up at like 5:30am, so I was awake as well.
I tried to get back to sleep but couldn't because I was anxious about my own gig today (Spanish church).
Eventually got up and went for a short walk around the neighborhood before the sun was fully up.
Saw two hot air balloons in the sky.
Found these pretty purple flowers, which are on my usual route but I've never seen them before.
Probably close up when it gets too hot out.
I've seen this plant growing in a crack in a dividing wall for quite some time now.
Wonder how long it can last there. It looked pretty with dew on it.
Back home, breakfast and sending the link to the D23 livestream to everyone I know, then watching it myself when 9am rolled around. I got as many screenshots of the band as I could, which was hard work because the camera work was not great. Still, I got some nice ones!
It looks like they had a lot of fun! I was so proud :)
Jameson got home and told me all about everything as we ate lunch. It was a really great experience for him, especially being acknowledged for the work he put in (he ended up handling a lot of the cues between dialogue and music to take some of that burden off of the stage manager) and meeting some very talented folks including the Genie from Aladdin on Broadway, Jodi Benson (the voice of the animated Little Mermaid), several of the puppeteers of The Muppets, and a boatload of corporate Disney people. The band has one brief performance for tomorrow's D23 closing ceremony, and then he'll be done. But he's now got the Jollywood event to look forward to this Christmas, which is great!
After lunch I drove out to my gig, a huge Baptist church partway to Orlando.
(CLICK HERE to see sanctuary)
Did you see that big boom camera? It was IN MY FACE.
Luckily I've done shows with cameras like this before and have gotten good at ignoring them.
The other musicians were really nice, rehearsal went smoothly. We did have to make some changes to one piece, but that's what rehearsals are for! I really hit it off with the trumpet player, who was a former Carson Barnes circus guy, so we had a lot in common and were yapping any time there was a break in rehearsal. They church fed us a nice dinner of rice, beans, ground beef, and plantains (WAY better than my sad pile of nonperishables), then the pastor came and prayed over us, then off we went to put on a show.
Before leaving the house, I had given Jameson the link to the church's Spanish services page, because if they ended up streaming it that's where it'd appear. Sure enough, they did livestream it, so it was his turn to get screenshots of me!
That boom camera really WAS in my face a few times :p
They've since put up a video of the whole service. The music starts at timestamp 8:30 if you want to hear me play churchy stuff! (CLICK HERE to watch)
The service went well, there were some small mistakes from each of us but barely noticeable.
I thought we did really well. We gave hugs and thanks all around when we were done.
It would be nice to be asked to play for this church again! However I was filling in for their usual trombonist (my fried Mike again, who seems to know everyone and have ALL the gigs), so I have no illusions about it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday was thankfully chill for me as I wasn't feeling that great, no pinpointable reason so probably stress + Aunt Flo.
I did data entry work but there was nothing left after only an hour, and it being Sunday I can't expect more.
Jameson went to do the second part of his Disney gig, which I didn't get to watch because they chose not to livestream it. But I wrote my sister a letter, and cleaned the bathrooms, and wiped down my small trombone to go back into storage (I used it for the church gig.)
Then I decided, no, I'm done. And laid down on the bed for about an hour doing nothing but reading and watching TikTok.
Lunch and to the grocery store for ingredients for stuffed shells, one of Jameson's favorites.
Back home I again didn't do much...I think I needed a decompression day, mentally. Also my throat was feeling sore so maybe I'm coming down with something again? Really hope not.
I went for a truncated walk, but will share pictures from that in the next post as this one already has loads of pics :)
As I'm typing this Jameson is out with friends at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights (I'm going with him next weekend.) I hope he's having fun! I'm just going to binge-watch Wheel of Time and read until I fall asleep.
