I'm sorry to hear about the troubles you're having SG. On the bright side, I'm a sucker for believing in the averages, so I can't help but think about the awesome amounts of good luck that is obviously coming your way to average all this out. You'll be filling whole pages of What's making you happy today? at a single sitting.

So true. Hang in there, SG!

Sundae, do you know anything about the people who are buying the pub? Is the main concern not being able to live there, or are you worried about job security too? Just need to know exactly what I need to be crossing my fingers for over here. :) I know everything will work out, one way or another.

Minifob (aka Kudzu Head) was due for yet another haircut. He has caught on to my trick of cutting it all ninja-style while he stands in the bathtub playing with the running water, and fought me on it more than usual. Dodging his head away from me, swinging his arm up to block me at the last second... as a result, I made a couple of really bad cuts, and the final product was, well, unpresentable to say the least. It looked terrible. So I had to just bite the bullet and hold him down while I buzzed his whole head with the clippers. He was really, really upset. At least I know he can go a good 6-8 weeks without needing another haircut now.

If you stab him in the head with those pointy scissors once or twice when he's windmilling his arms, he will probably learn that it's less painful for him to get his hair cut instead of his head. Either that or he'll get some interesting scars.

lmao @ Kudzu Head!

Poor fella! :)

Two things you can to to help yourself - and you're doing them already! Keep it up SG, we're all rooting for you! :grouphug:

I had the next two days All planned out ,
Tomorrow wire and fire a truck scale with a friend I have worked with for close to 20 years, he knows what hes doing and we have fun working togather
and Friday , do a few little piddly jobs close to home , off early to go camping this week end

Then the phone rings , its my boss , ugh rember those 5 Big load cells yew ordered for Cust X , ughhh well their Plant is going to be down all day friday , they want them installed .
Installing 1 or these takes about 3-4 hrs , FUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!

Just now the phone rang again , Its a Verry diffacult customer to get along with , she Loves her some Zip though , Ughhh my Rail scale is down what time can you be her inhe morning ??? Soryy but I'm booked for the next 2 days , her " Hold on" , Beep My boss iss confrenced in , So whatime do you want me on site , Howw about 6am , thatss solid Overtime , her OK, so now I havve to Leave at 4am to go fix her rail scale AN then go wire and fire that truck scale !!!

FUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK Mee runnen !!!!!

Seee what happens when you make plans !!!!!!!

Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh Zip! That's such a shame.

Zip, I really think something's wrong with your truck. It just isn't running well. You'd best get it right back to the shop now...

I think I pulled a muscle in my stomach last night during a coughing fit (andI don't know where that came from because I don't have a cold or even a sore throat this morning...I'm thinking maybe I swallowed a bug in my sleep. Yuck!)

I'm tired and have a headache also.

Ouch. Poor you, are you able to stomach aspirin or somesuch?

it's not that bad. I'm just complaining because I can. I'll be alright. I just wont be doing any pelvic floor excercises for a few days. ;)

I'm more worried about somewhere to live - I get £40 a week from the pub and although that's very useful I can live without it if I have to. I'm mostly concerned about the exchange happening before next payday. That's when I will have enough money for a deposit and a months rent in advance so I can move into another place. Before that and I'm in a very awkward situation.

Damn, thought I'd reconciled myself to that - I've got butterflies again just thinking about it.

Anyway. Just to compound my misery I am still itching like hell. I went to the Doctors on Wednesday and he said I'm having an allergic reaction to something I've eaten. If the hives aren't down by Monday I should go back and they'll give me steroids. Well they're still live and perky and roaming my body with a strange sort of symmetry. The palms of my hands and between my fingers are worst at the moment. If you would like to participate online go out and grab yourself a handful of stinging nettles. Oh and drop a couple on your feet and tickle your underarms while you're at it. From what I saw in the bathroom this morning my sides and back are next on the list.

This - and Diz being really insecure and needing comforting at ridiculous hours - means I've had about 4 hours sleep a night since Monday. Thought "Sod-it!" today and have bought some sleepy anti-histamines (been taking one a day non-drowsy since Tuesday). I've been very good and not double-dosing so far, but I am so miserable with the itch and the tiredness I could just lay down and die. Fingers crossed for some sleep tonight at least.

Sorry to be such a moaner recently.

Oh hon. That sounds really shitty. Don't know if it will help you, but I always find that bathing with oilatum emollient really soothes. It's about a fiver for a small bottle.

Which reminds me. I am a bit upset that my eczema is really bad. It's been pretty flared for the past two or three weeks, but it's crested into nasty over last 48 hours.

*chuckles* I did the double-dose thing on the antihistimines last night and well-overslept this morning.

Sorry, I know it must seem like a walk in the park for people with chronic skin conditions. I'm just feeling sorry for myself!

My angioedema attacks sure aren't fun, so I sympathise with the chronic and the acute skin conditions.

DanaC--I have to be very careful: if I take benadryl too late I pay hell trying to wake up in the morning...but as my symptoms usually flair (flare?)up at the end of the day when the shoes are off or the hands (or face, or ears) have realized something had irritated them that day it's often too late to take anything. Depending on the degree of discomfort, sometimes I do anyway.

"All international circuits are busy to the country you are calling. Please try your call again later."

You're kidding me? What is this, a radio station ticket giveaway? Arrrgh!

I get that message every time I try to call Nigeria, also.

Don't they care that I need that money?

not at all a walk in the park, that looks horrible. The Oilatum Dana mentioned is awsome, although i used to use that for dry skin and would be wary about it inflaming that more... just try a teeny tiny drop to start and if it doesn't irritate it, go for it. it's a good thing to have in the bathroom cabinet. the other thing I've recently got into is Aveeno moisturiser, very soothing in a non-oily, none irritant way.

It looks like something that might also be irritated by humidity -do you have any control over the humidity at work?

How 'bout a good ol' shot of celestone? (a long-acting steriod?) for Sundae and Dana. Usually clears my Danny up pronto. (he's an eczema sufferer, too, Dana)

Trust me honey, that looks like no walk I ever took in a park :P That looks as painful and uncomfortable as any bad eczema flare.

@ Shawnee. Yeah. I am supposed to drop onto hydroxizine 3 times a day when it's bad, but I just find it knocks me out and take it only when needed. Trouble is, as you say, if you leave it too late it sucks your brain out by morning :P

You should take some antihysthamines before bed. Even a double dose wont kill you if it's got enough work to do with the hives.

Just be careful what kind you take though. Some (such as phernergan) are depressants, so you'll feel shitty and grumpy the next day especially if you take a large dose. I try not to take these too much, but they do work really well on things like hives.

:2cents:
Allergic reaction to something you ate? Sounds like a cop-out diagnosis to me. Did you tell your doctor about the other stuff going on in your life? Could this be an auto-immune response to the sudden massive increase in stress, worry, anxiety etc. which you quite reasonably undergo when your job and home are put in doubt?
Doesn't stress trigger auto-immune responses? Anyone?

be careful with antihistamines if you're on depression medication.

It's my main trigger with both eczema and asthma. But it's different for different people.

I've seen people break out in hives in response to stress, nasty ones.

I think it's a cop-out diagnosis, too...but, then, I'm not there with SG. Maybe it WAS something she ate.

thing is, the treatment's pretty similar whatever the diagnosis. it's just the preventative care in the future that is dependant on a decent diag.

My Doctor is very good and does really listen. He knows I've been through stress recently as we discussed it as a trigger for my acid reflux in the previous appointment, and again at the one I showed him the hives (then mostly on my belly). His immediate reaction given their appearance and distribution was "food". He could be wrong of course, but as Monster says, the treatment is the same.
Don't worry, I worked in Medicines Management long enough to check contra-indications. In both purchases I told the pharmacists what I'm on. I think fluoxetine can be a problem, but I didn't get on with that and am on paroxetine instead.

I did get a lovely night's sleep last night - didn't knock me out but I guess kept me drowsy enough not to surface as I do usually. I wasn't even woken by the itching, although my hands are going crazy now. New ones are still coming up so my secret hopes of a knockout dose (for the hives) didn't work either. Probably not medically sound anyway!

I'm going to take some tonight, but not tomorrow night - I don't want to go to the doctors on Monday in a temporary reprieve state. If they're still active I want Dr Bocus to see they're still active. A week is 6 days too long to put up with it imo. Wishful thinking is telling me the rate is slowing down so fingers crossed I am over the worst and won't have to have steroids anyway.

What's upsetting me?
I think I'm drinking too much. I've been stealing more and more alcohol from my parents' liquor cabinet. I did it last night, and again tonight. It's gone from once every three weeks or so to more than once a week.

not good. not good.

whats also not good is how many tries it took me to type that. and how i can hardly stand up.

so...are you drunk right now or hungover? Either state is hellish. My sympathies.

Don't worry Ibs - it's just self-indulgence not habit.
But given how it might end - stop now. You'll have plenty of time to develop bad habits in college, you don't need any practice beforehand.

yeah im pretty drunk.
like can't type or sit up straight drunk.
shit.
i dont like being drunk.
fuck, i dont even like drinking or anything
i dont know why i do it
why do i feel numb all over?
shit.i should probably go to sleep.

whhy do i do this? i dont enjoy it. Its downright painful to actually get the alcohol down (especially with my throat in as much pain as it already is, i think im getting sick), and i dont enjoy being drunk. why the fuck do i drink?

sg: yeah. i really should stop.
the problem is
i dont even think of myself as a 'drinker'
like if people ask i say
oh yeah, nah, i dont really drink

its hard to stop something you dont even think of yourself as doing


and its also hard to type. shit.
i think im going to bed.

so i just walked through the living room
and actually had a (fortunately brief) conversation with my mother


and then the first thing i did when i got back to my room is sit down and promptly fall over. shit.

Are you drinking out of boredom or stress? Maybe you need to find something that isn't self-destructive to fill your time.

fuck i can hardly even stand up straight
i dunno how much of it is mental and how much is the alcohol
but shit
im out of it

and sorry im like posting so much right in a row.
my bad.

um i wouldnt say im BORED.. or stressed for that matter.

well okay, maybe i am. bored cuz ive got nothing to do on a saturday night but play quake and drink, andl listen to prince, and stressed cuz ive got a ton of homework im totally not doing, but... meh.

i really dont know why i do it. attention maybe. that seems most plausible.god knows im enough of a little attention whore already.

i really do feel like im numb. all over.
and i just almost fell outta my chair. i think im drunker than ive ever been before
not that thats saying much.
shit.
remind me that im not supposed to do this again.

Ibram, this is your liver speaking. PLease, please stop beating me up. We need each other. I'll never leave you, but you may force me into a break down where I have no choice. Besides, aren't you tired of feeling like shit? I know I am. :thepain:

At first I was thinking this was just regulation teen-age misbehaviour - but that is supposed to make you happy.
A grumpy drunk at your age, Ibram, as you say, is not good.

So now I am thinking subconsciously deliberate self-harm/self-destructive/self-sabotage behaviour. Punishing yourself for not doing the homework which you know you should do, but don't want to do, maybe? Or sabotaging yourself so there is no way you can do it now?

No sympathy right now. I am hoping there might be some aversion therapy value in your suffering.
Here's what I reckon you should do. If you have a spinning desk chair, sit on it and spin round and round as fast as you can twenty times. Then go back the other way. The do it with your face pointing upwards.
We'll get some serious aversion going here!

^^^^^^^^^^DON'T DO THIS AGAIN^^^^^^^^^^^

Shape up boy! You fuck up in school and it's straight in the Army for you... those D.I.s will make a man of your drunken ass. :eyebrow:

Don't do it, Ibby. Look at the mess I made of my life!!!

pool's closed :(

How fucking stupid are we becoming? I just heard a long commercial on Bloomberg *i couldn't have invented this if i tried* explaining to people that the best way to deal with "cyber bullies" is to "delete the message and ignore them".

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? we really need an ad sponsored by the dept of justice and various councils telling us how to deal with trolls on the internet? if you can't figure it out on your own, you probably deserve to be a quivering slobbering bowl of pathetic stuck in your basement.

Idiocracy.

and what's more - who are they targetting with that ad? it was on BLOOMBERG.

little kids who use BLOOMBERG and aren't big enough to protect themselves.

ooh, I LOVE the one with the clown in the background.

My best friend of 40 years may have hepititis. I hadn't seen her in a few months, and last week we visited them. She looked absolutely awful, pale, with unexplained bruising, including a full on black eye. Her pupils were freaking yellow. So I pulled her husband aside and said get her to the damn doctor, or I will. So today they went, and are waiting for test results.

You know what? I wish someone would do one of those Intervention episodes with me where I get sent to a fat farm for 30-60 days. I think that would do me a world of good.

I'm not losing weight...in fact, I recently hit 400 lbs. I just can't seem to stick to reasonable eating and exercise anymore. I go to the doctor Monday and will be willing to entertain his suggestions.

I'm not ready to die, but I feel like I'm at the end of my rope with my weight.

Good luck, Sycamore. I hope your doctor is able to help. In the past few years, I've gained a bunch of weight myself, and it just doesn't seem to want to come off. I think much of my problem is lack of exercise and the slowing of the metablism which sometimes accompanies getting a little older. You have my sympathy and don't you dare die.

Ahhh, Binky that's tough.
The most positive way to address it in your head is that whatever she has, she has had for some time and at least it will now be addressed and treated medically.

Syc - I feel your pain. Over the years I have yo-yo'd up and down, but my ups are gettign higher and higher. I fear I will end up one of those women I occasionally see who are in motorised chairs because they are too fat to walk (and I assume have other obesity related health issues). Either that or I'll be the raddled old crone who came in with greasy hair, dirty clothes and counted out her coppers for a pint of Stella the other night. Although I think she had mental health issues to be fair - she could have bought alcohol from a shop much cheaper.

The nurse who runs the weight loss clinic is back at the doctors this week. I've been meaning to call for an appointment, but when I remember the office is full. It's empty now... but by the time I call and explain and wait and blah blah blah I bet someone will walk back in.

Damn - I was in at 09.00 this morning (we don't usually open until 10.00 but an artist wanted an early start). Should've called then.

Keep us updated.

Any chance you and the Mrs. can work together on this? Meal planning / morning walk together. It is really hard to change things as half a couple. For me controlling this stuff starts at the grocery store. If junk food gets in the house I will eat it. Good luck bro. Let me know if I can help. Maybe we could develop a behavior mod program?

I hear you all, loud and clear! Let's be each other's support group. Lord knows the support I get at home is "next week we should start walking."

I'm so sorry, binky, but you did the right thing.

Syc---I feel your pain, too. All I did from Oct 2007 to about NOW is lay on the couch, then, in moments inspired, went to bed; rinse, repeat.

I MUST work on strength conditioning but I feel too tired most days to do anything more than is strictly required to live. My dad came over and berated me for not watering my plants outside. How lazy is that?

I eat healthy in spurts and then, at 2.00 a.m. I walk to the cupboard and get out two cupcakes. It's nuts.

Stolen.

Oh, look. SteveDallas invented the internet.