Poor, Neglected Blog
Lately I have not been very bloggy. I wonder what is wrong with me. I guess I have been a little bit down, but I perk back up intermittently. So, let's see what my updates are:
1) Mark and I saw Maria Shriver at our corner deli, Angelina’s. An apparent perk of moving is that you get to see Maria Shriver at your corner deli. Next time, Ahnold?
2) I have rediscovered Wham. Wham is good. Anyone want to make an issue of it?
3) For my birthday, Mark took me to the Fairmont and we stayed in an amazingly luxurious room and ate amazingly luxurious food. It was very, very fun. And I was also proud of this: we walked from our hotel room (up on Nob Hill) down to the Bay and then ALL the way back up, a million steep hills... I was proud of myself, since I am so big and ungainly these days, and I huff and puff when I exert myself.
4) I got my Rhogam shot at Kaiser. What is Rhogam, you may ask? It's this shot that was invented for mothers-to-be who are Rh negative but are having a baby with a man who's Rh positive. This is potential "Rh incompatibility" and there's a chance, if your blood mingles with the baby's, that your body could produce antibodies that would attack the baby's blood, or if not THIS baby, then the next one you have, if you have a next one. Only 15% of the population is Rh negative, so it's on the rarer side, and when I got my shot it came with this little pamphlet that said, "This information is designed to make you comfortable with yourself as an Rh-negative individual." Isn't that strange? Rh-negative individual? I didn't feel at all uncomfortable before I read that, but then I started thinking, "I am an Rh-negative individual," and felt PIGEON-holed.
5) I am afraid of needles--so afraid that I would have to call it a phobia. I go into an absolute panic. This problem is not helped by the fact that I fainted at my first pregnancy blood test. So when I get shots or blood tests, Mark has to hold my hand and talk and talk and talk about something trivial to distract me. He has gotten very good at it. At my last blood test, he talked about the great question of "Who stole our boss and friend Freddie's Snapples from the communal work refrigerator?" And at the Rhogam shot, he talked about mini-candy-bars in the communal work candy jar and which ones you take first and which ones are real "desperation picks." For example, you probably go through and take out the Krackels and Butterfingers first, but would only eat a Hershey's Kiss or a plain Hershey mini if all the former bars are gone. I have to tell you, this kind of talk helps me through needle experiences beautifully! Okay, so the nurses laugh at us, but the humiliation is worth it.
6) Ann Marie kindly offered to come over yesterday and take some pregnancy portraits of me, which she did--thank you, AMD! She also got some good shots of my cats, so that is happy.
1) Mark and I saw Maria Shriver at our corner deli, Angelina’s. An apparent perk of moving is that you get to see Maria Shriver at your corner deli. Next time, Ahnold?
2) I have rediscovered Wham. Wham is good. Anyone want to make an issue of it?
3) For my birthday, Mark took me to the Fairmont and we stayed in an amazingly luxurious room and ate amazingly luxurious food. It was very, very fun. And I was also proud of this: we walked from our hotel room (up on Nob Hill) down to the Bay and then ALL the way back up, a million steep hills... I was proud of myself, since I am so big and ungainly these days, and I huff and puff when I exert myself.
4) I got my Rhogam shot at Kaiser. What is Rhogam, you may ask? It's this shot that was invented for mothers-to-be who are Rh negative but are having a baby with a man who's Rh positive. This is potential "Rh incompatibility" and there's a chance, if your blood mingles with the baby's, that your body could produce antibodies that would attack the baby's blood, or if not THIS baby, then the next one you have, if you have a next one. Only 15% of the population is Rh negative, so it's on the rarer side, and when I got my shot it came with this little pamphlet that said, "This information is designed to make you comfortable with yourself as an Rh-negative individual." Isn't that strange? Rh-negative individual? I didn't feel at all uncomfortable before I read that, but then I started thinking, "I am an Rh-negative individual," and felt PIGEON-holed.
5) I am afraid of needles--so afraid that I would have to call it a phobia. I go into an absolute panic. This problem is not helped by the fact that I fainted at my first pregnancy blood test. So when I get shots or blood tests, Mark has to hold my hand and talk and talk and talk about something trivial to distract me. He has gotten very good at it. At my last blood test, he talked about the great question of "Who stole our boss and friend Freddie's Snapples from the communal work refrigerator?" And at the Rhogam shot, he talked about mini-candy-bars in the communal work candy jar and which ones you take first and which ones are real "desperation picks." For example, you probably go through and take out the Krackels and Butterfingers first, but would only eat a Hershey's Kiss or a plain Hershey mini if all the former bars are gone. I have to tell you, this kind of talk helps me through needle experiences beautifully! Okay, so the nurses laugh at us, but the humiliation is worth it.
6) Ann Marie kindly offered to come over yesterday and take some pregnancy portraits of me, which she did--thank you, AMD! She also got some good shots of my cats, so that is happy.
posted by Sarah Goss at 10:10 AM
24 Comments:
When I have to get a shot or give blood, I use my free hand to squeeze my leg so hard it hurts. This distracts me enough to help out. Also it is not embarrassing.
Personally, I'd take the distraction method any time. And talk about food is especially compelling. When I have blood taken, I usually go in talking a mile a minute about how my veins are hard to find and I hope they'll use a butterfly needle and I hope they are good at this and do they want me to clench and unclench my fist, etc. etc. Then I look in the opposite direction of the needle and do my Lamaze breathing and concentrate on an object. It's all very terrifying and there's no use denying that some of the blood-takers are good at it and some suck (your blood badly).
Sarah, did I tell you about the student I had last term who came to me privately to tell me that since she was little, she's had this problem with even reading or seeing subject matter that is particularly gory or involves needles and blood-letting? She will get light-headed and sometimes faint. She was worried about how she would deal with Dracula and Trainspotting. And I should add that she is one of the smartest, sweetest students I've ever had (she's the one whose papers bring tears to my eyes).
Sorry you're glummish, though, sweetie. I'll try to muster up some HEEs for when I visit. Or we can just sit and moan together, because I can't say that the thought of walking uphill for miles is very intriguiing ...
oh and for some reason, I had a thing for Andrew Ridgley way back when. Why? I don't know. I think George Michael's head was too big and his hoop earrings too piratey and since I NEEDED to have a crush on someone in each band I liked (or ALL the members when it came to Duran Duran), I settled on Mr. Ridgley. And so now when I think of Wham, I mostly think yuck, but I also think, "snappy," and "peppy," and "why not?"
I don't want your bod-y baby
part time love just brings me down
I like Wham. Except for "Wham Rap." That might very well be the worst song of the eighties--and that's saying something.
Thanks for the needle tips, Mom and Dad! Mom, I'll try to use the Lamaze breathing technique once I learn it. Dad, I think it's funny that you don't think it's embarrassing to inflict pain on yourself while you're getting a shot :-) At least acknowledge that that WOULD be embarrassing if someone saw you doing it!!
I don't know of "Wham Rap"! It sounds terrible, though. Did it involve actual attempts by George and Andrew to rap?
You crack me up, Mita...do you think you picked Ridgley just to be perverse, since EVERYone else liked George Michael? It's like, uh, watching "The Outsiders" and deciding to have a crush on Emilio Estevez's character :-)
Albert!! Tell me you do NOT enjoy watching needles go into your arm. That is too much for me. Surely you jest, sir!
Hmm. It's an interesting theory. And I've been known for being perverse (refer to Harry Wonham's comments on my quals, right?). But, as you know, I followed the crowd of screaming girls on the Matt Dillon express when it came to The Outsiders. Props to Erin. Stay gold pony-boy.
P.S. Your blog makes me happy :-)
P.P.S Matt Dillon's stock plummeted, didn't it?
P.P.P.S Wham Rap!!! Ha ha!! Oh Sarah, you must find some!!
P.P.P.P.S Geez! What am I, 12?!
OK, I didn't want to say it, but you made me:
I'm never gonna daaaance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Yup. All your fault. I take no responsibility.
Hey, shouldn't Maria be in Sacramento? When I used to work in Albany, it made me very angry that Gov. Pataki didn't live in the Governor's Mansion. He liked his hometown better and he had kids in school and the Albany schools stink. I was like, "Hey, do you want the job or don't you??!?!"
Hmmmm. Well, if I were going to give you a hard time, Albert, I would point out that you used the word "like" to describe the blood test experience! :-) But, I will not give you a hard time. I know you must have had to get used to needles, and besides, I have a weird pain-thing myself, which is that I am not afraid of the dentist or of any mouth-related pain. I don't know if I'd say I *like* going to the dentist, but I definitely don't *mind* it...and I know that is weird.
PS
I do not accept the anti-Wham sentiments from everyone. Mark and I agreed that there are only two kinds of people: those who know they like Wham, and those who like Wham deep down but are in denial. Isn't that an annoying way of arguing with you?
Matt,
You shouldn't feel bad-- "guilty feet have got no rhythm" is a beautiful, beautiful metaphor.
I don't know how much time Maria and Ahnold spend in Sacramento, to tell the truth. But it doesn't seem right that they can hop on private planes and be in SF in half an hour, or LA in... a couple hours, probably. They should have to accept that they live in Sacramento, not here, and not Beverly Hills. Hear that, Maria and Ahnold? Since you are probably lurking on my blog, having nothing better to do....
Yeah, and New York City's billionaire mayor can jet off to his compound in the Bahamas every weekend. I sigh.
But I like Wham! I like "wake me up before you go-go" even though George Michael himself has said he doesn't know what that means. The only song I don't like by them is the Christmas one, because I have this irrational hatred of songs with only one verse. (And that one doesn't even have one verse. It has like half a verse.)
OK, I'm remembering it wrong, it actually has quite a large number of verses. But the verse and the chorus have the same chord progression! And the chorus ... uh .. repeats a lot! :)
Stay gold, Mita! ...I can't wait for you to come visit and cheer me up :-)
Mita,
Well, while most would contend, like you, that Matt Dillon's stock fell, I would like to point out that he was the best thing about Singles and that his performance in "There's Something about Mary" is pure genius -- Oscar-worthy, in my lowbrow view.
I guess I prefer him in his comic mode.
What I like most about Wham -- well, what I like as much as their awesome songs, which looking back seem to derive much of their charm from Motown style songwriting and vocals (doesn't George Michael sound a bit like Smoky Robinson on "Freedom"? -- maybe it's jsut me) -- is that in those old videos George Michael looks like Princess Diana with five o'clock shadow. He might just be a little prettier, and he can dance a lot better than she could.
Wham!s greatest contribution to pop culture still remains Jim Breuer's MTV "Goat-boy" sketch from SNL...
HAHAHA!!!!!
Mark is RIGHT!!! George Michael TOTALLY looked like Princess Di. I'm thinking of the "Careless Whisper" video, in which we get that close-up of his big head (yes, with piratey earrings). That video was all sexy, wasn't it? It made me want one those bathing suits with the very deep V that went down the middle of your chest. How is it that I didn't turn out slutty and stupid?
And over the course of 20 years, Matt Dillon has gone through what Nicholas Brendan went through over a mere seven seasons on Buffy. From cute to puffy. So, props to Matt for aging so, er, gracefully.
I need to stop saying "props."
There are a lot of things I could and probably SHOULD say to all of you, but I will content myself with saying, "Wow. I never dreamed *Wham* would inspire more conversation than Maria Shriver and controversial issues of pregnancy wellbeing put together...so, I'm proud of us, people!"
I also liked Matt Dillon in "Wild Things", awful as that movie was, it was certainly suspenseful and watchable, and Matt played the creepy possible villain! That was the same year as "Something About Mary" so an interesting secondary peak in his career. He seems to have declined again, while Patrick Dempsey (now of Grey's Anatomy which I have never watched) has climbed out of the 80s ether/teen wasteland...
So now the real burning question... with the blue kohl eyeliner/extensive eye makeup, were British women emulating Princess Di or George Michael? (even now I know too many Englishwomen with kohl-rimmed eyes--a trend that does not die easily there). Kind of a campy thought. Maybe they want to look like Eddie Izzard in his full performance glory? (apologies if you have no idea who that is)
Was it George Michael or Princess Di who had the red sweater with the sheep on it?
Hey Katherine, Matt just mentioned Eddie Izzard to me, too, under my "Point Reyes and Doom" post! What a coincidence. I don't know who he is, as it happens, but I am going to find out :-)
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