May 24, 2012

  • I'm Having a Panic Attack Right NOW!


    .. I am shaking with anxiety.

    I was having anxiety all day yesterday and when I got home from work I went to bed.  I stayed in bed, just getting up to eat dinner and to use the restroom but stayed in bed most all night and slept through.

    I dreamed I held a drinking glass and noticed a crack in it.

    My older brother and sister are both in poor health and both far away.   My brother may lose his legs due to to poor circulation,  it doesn't matter that he hasn't taken care of himself by smoking even after a 5 way bypass, and he is elderly.... it is upsetting...

    My sister is very thin and in the hospital,  she only weights under 80 pounds or something... she has an ulcer where they removed part of the stomach before from ulcer.  She is apathetic and will not eat, nor will she quit smoking... She just wants to go home.... I swear she is doing passive / aggressive suicide it seems I don't know what to think.  Her Dr. is fed up with her, she won't take care of herself...

    I am shaking with anxiety and needed to write...  I have to go to work and it feels like it has been raining for 3 solid weeks.   Granted we had a lovely weekend and I took advantage of the wonderful weather, going to a Yankees Game on Saturday and spending time relaxing in Central Park on Sunday,  I even went on an art gallery tour at The Whitney on Friday night, I was active I tell you, it was an unusually active  weekend and all by kismet...

    I was presented with a Yankees ticket and invitation and the Whitney tour was also an invitation...

    hmmmm.... that makes me think of something,  a high anxiety period after an unusually good weekend...

    ..........
    On Tuesday night I dreamed I was in the shower and noticed a crab ( a pubic crab!) climbing up my arm...  I told a friend and as soon as I spoke the dream,  the interpretation hit me,  this is how it went:

    "... it was a crab!  a pubic crab! and in the shower!"

    .."oh that is so bizarre!"

    "I wonder what it could symbolize,  a crab?....    HEY!!!   A CRAB is the sign for CANCER,  I was in the shower washing/ cleaning washing it off,   I AM  AFRAID OF CANCER!"

    I felt like I should have paid myself $130 bucks for analysis!

    ...and as it turns out,  I AM afraid of Cancer, it is terrifying to me.   My neice has a rare form of cancer of the lining of the ovary....  not only that but there is cancer in the family on both sides and I have those bad cells in my stomach which means I need to watch it and have the endoscopy every couple of years... maybe even yearly,  I'm going to the Dr. in June and will probably get an appointment.

    Also I'm going to lose a back molar to oral surgery... this scares the HELL out of me.... I feel so beaten down...

    I am thinking of the Carpal Tunnel Surgery on my right hand, it is starting to bother me occasionally, I tell you I am falling apart at the seams....

    The summer is coming up so quickly I may not do it until fall or winter if at all... it isn't as bad as the left hand was...

    I was up 4 hours before I have to go to work... I shouldn't have any more coffee.... I just took an Inderal and I never use that, I only use them to go on stage or to fly (in an airplane)  ....  

    This is the first Inderal I have taken all year.  

    I hate anxiety.. I have it bad right now...

    I can either say "Oh Woe is Me",  but it's a mature anxiety,  or just recognize it,    feel it,    separate it,  pull it off of my body and hold it at arms length, and realize I can deal.....

    ....although  it ain't funny McGee.  No sir, I don't like it....  I'm shaking.  But at least I know what it is and am relieved to have valid reasons for it,  it's worse when I don't or I don't know what is causing it....

    My adult sister weighing 76 pounds was the straw that broke the camel's back.

    Shit.  Venting here is helpful... I forgot how helpful.... 

    Inderal is generally prescribed for high blood pressure to be taken on a regular basis.  I get for off-label use, the side effect of calming, however I am aware it can restrict the breathing so it's a science.  

    I learned all this by thinking I was having a panic attack on the day George W. Bush delcared war on Iraq.

    I thought I was having the worst panic attack of my life and then I thought I was having a heart attack because it just kept getting worse and worse until I could not breath.

    I went to the emergency room.   As it turned out, I was diagnosed with a massive asthma attack,   the first and only asthma attack I have ever had...  

    That is when I learned I should not have used the Inderal alfter all, although I wasn't in any danger, it just made it worse...

    I am not asthmatic,  I think it was totally caused from anxiety.

    Lung / breathing tests since that time are normal.

    Inderal has a very mild calming effect.  I already feel a bit better,  like a sigh of relief kind of,  although I am still anxious.

    If I did not know myself, I would go through the day all crabby and bitchy,  saying sarcastic things to people and getting angry at the slightest provocation.   I am so glad I got a handle on this.  It was hell when I was younger...

    I wonder what Freud would have said about my choice of the word "crabby"......

    To have a panic attack is one thing,   to have one and hold it at arms length like a kicking, screaming child,  is quite another.  Neither one is comfortable but at least with the screaming child you can rationally deal with it.

    Plan:

    Go to work,  put nose in book during all off time.   Avoid annoying people.  Remember you are on edge and why.  Look toward 5PM and the upcoming holiday weekend.

    Whew,  I had to tell myself I'd be fine.
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April 11, 2012

  • Whole Foods, Upper West Side

       Had to go to Michael's for some canvas board.  There's a painting I want to paint.  I did a drawing a few days ago and got this idea for a painting....

       I had 4 days off for spring break.  I'm bored stiff.  I met a friend here for lunch, as it is near Michael's and she lives nearby and wasn't working either.  The weather is coolish,  nothing to brag about....

       I haven't been painting but did some drawing.

       I bought myself a Nook E-reader,  a reward for filing my taxes on time.   I hate filing my taxes on time and am notoriously late,  like 5 years late.   2 years ago I filed 5 years at a time and then a last year I filed 2 years at a time and this year I am on time.   I've never been penalized because I never owe the government, they always owe me money and there is no penalty for filing late if they owe you money of course because they are making money so they want you to leave your refund with them, and,  as I learned the hard way,  if you are over 3 years late,  they get to keep your refund...

       Anyhow, my accountant moved upstate,  I can't stand him, so it's easier to deal with him through email and through the mail.  No longer do I have to go to his big fancy office and feel intimidated,  I don't know, he just rubs me the wrong way....   I have too much social anxiety to find a new one too... now that I'm used to this prick.

       I read all three of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series....  hard to get into, good, then drudgery about the Swedish government... Was glad when I finished the third, then watched all the Swedish movies and the American version of the fist one.  all very good, but the series is over hyped......  then I read Perfume by Patrick Suskind, one of my very favorite books now.    Full Dark, No Stars, Stephen King at his most brutal....

       I read some sexually perverse novel from the 1920s, I think, called The Story of The Eye.... Wow,  what an eyeful,  totally perverse...

      Now the 3 books I want to read,  2 Body Farm Novels and the next Gaslight Mystery Series by Victoria Thompson ( body farm books by Jefferson Bass)  are not published yet but I have pre ordered them...

       What will I do tomorrow,  my last day of vacation?  Should I rent a bicycle?  I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday and saw  The Stein's Collect... the collection of the new Paris art collected by Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo,  several Picassos in there and many others. 

      If you haven't seen Midnight in Paris,  you should,  they are featured in the movie.     Gertrude Stein did a lot to make Picasso famous and a few others...

      Now I am bored of blogging too...

      In my Nook is The Hunger Games which came free with the purchase,  I got 2 books,  the other is called Loose Cannons and is full of myths about wars which I couldn't care much about.   The Hunger Games is juvenile....  I suppose I will finish it since it is short but it is not for me...  at this point it doesn't look like I will read the other two.   I want something better.... I like adult fiction...

      I downloaded a book about Sybil,  not the current one that refutes multipersonality disorder, but one by Patrick Suraci which supports the idea and he actually knew Sybil and has some of her art... this is know first hand...

      Anyway... what else... what to do .... go home and watch the next episode of Awake,  a series about a man who goes to sleep only to wake up in a parallel world,  his sleep life is an alternate life in a parallel world and he sees a therapist in each world and they each tell him the other world is a dream.   It's a pretty good series... I'm really into quantum mechanics and parallel realities...

      Hopefully I'll write again soon.   Facebook is killing this blog....
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February 27, 2012

  • Oscar Pool: I Voted For The Blacktress ...

    ...am I a racist?   I truly thought that since Streep has had such celebrity, and we have a black president,  that Viola Davis would win.  Of course I haven't seen The Help....  I have only seen 3 of the movies and I don't really care...

     It was an Oscar Party Pool and I didn't win the cash or at least I haven't heard I won any cash...  I left before it was over..

     I drank too much... why do I do that?  I poured Grey Goose until the cows came home....  with club soda....and I ate sweets galore...

       I was so socially anxious seeing everyone I don't ever see and those I see quite often...  

       One person I was really nervous about seeing....  this girl...  we had a slight falling out because she's a dick.

     I avoid people and I avoid confrontations.... so she comes up to me in my face all smiley  "SO ARE WE GOOD?  ARE WE GOOD?"...

      I'm like  "WH, WHA WHAT??" in a comic strip and I just kind I go "...i guess so."  and   that was that...  gosh...

     people scare the hell out of me....  i ran for the vodka and that is not a good thing.  I did not get sick though.

     I put two drinks down and walked away intentionally,  giving myself a break in between... I only had 3 drinks but I poured them myself so it was probably a lot more....

       I did not get sick although I am suffering today.... off of work for once,  nice after an oscar party .... and slept till 11 AM.... I just ate... I need to get outside while the sun is shining but I can tell I have no energy...

     my body just sits here.

      i regretted the invitation, took a proprolol or whatever you call it to reduce anxiety,  and had a good time and was glad I went but drank too much..

      I got at least 6 of the categories correct when I left but someone had 8...  the pot was over $1000.... rats.

     ....  I really don't care about the oscars, it's all so phoney,   but it was nice to have forced myself to get out and mingle with colleagues, friends, .... and not so much so.... since I'm such a social isolate and asocial...

     Do you ever get invited to things and feel a burden that you HAVE to go or you'll be an outcast and never be invited again but would prefer to stay home?     That's me.   shit......  anxiety....

     then afterward,  relief and another time learning that I should force myself... but damn it is uncomfortable and hard and how often I give in to isolation...
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    . Thank you Oscar.
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February 10, 2012

  • Worked On My Monk

    but cannot photograph it well...

    my second oil.
    oil is interesting
    it stays wet for months.
    it is a long slow process.
    i am not sure what i think about it
    it is really messy


    i should shoot it in natural light
    i don't think i am finished
    i like it with more black under the left cheek like before
    now that i have fixed the nose

     i will probably paint more on it

    .i have not been feeling artistic
    then this kind of popped out
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February 2, 2012

  • Dueling Groundhogs

    One saw his shadow and the other one didn't.
    What could it possibly mean?

    I'm hung up on meaning.
    Stuff that has it and stuff that doesn't.
    It's the stuff that dussent that kills me.

    Meaning is subjective and objective.
    Life is hardly ever black and white,
    except for the fatal points.

    I feel much better than in that other post but personal stuff isn't getting done today.
    Why would I blog about it?

     I was supposed to go get a blood test today but did not.  I just don't feel like it, no appointment is being missed and I can do it on Tuesday.
     I just don't feel like I have  to justify it to myself although I feel a need to find a reason...

    I don't know what to blog anymore but the urge to sit here and type is great.
    Xanga automatically  charged me for Premium...  I probably would not have renewed had I known... 
    That was actually something possible to know, unlike the dueling goundhogs who see shadows and don't see shadows which voids all meaning.

    Today feels void of meaning.  Something is missing. Something is strange (looks up at the calendar to see the moon phase and doesn't see anything specific other than it's waxing... Full moon is next Tuesday...)

    You are constantly searching for meaning, changing tenses and persons in midstream. 

    No one is the wiser.
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January 27, 2012

  • Today

    I am crippled with anxiety
    the rain is coming down in a steady pace
    I want to curl up into a ball
    I think I have a stomach virus
    I could have gone to work
    I broke my cell phone earlier in the week
    a package came yesterday
    it is the replacement
    no one was here to get it
    it will come again today
    I had a low grade fever on Wednesday
    I would have stayed home on Thursday but I didn't want to use up any more sick time
    I stayed home today
    I think I have a stomach virus
    I sit around the dark apartment waiting
    I hate this
    I can't do anything
    there is clutter everywhere
    I feel alone in the world
    getting old
    getting older,  feeling more alone
    now I'm getting scared.
    I feel raw today
    the rain is coming down and everything is gray
    you can't see very far
    but other people are working
    the world is going on
    I feel regretful and guilty and I am crippled with anxiety
    the day is riddled with holes
    I can not grasp it.
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January 23, 2012

January 12, 2012

  • Words on Pages

    Words on pages make escapes
    Stories tales and fantasy
    I go there rather drastically

    This morning is a shocked heart
    Adrift with no goal
    In the middle of the book
    But fearing the end

    I am cold but thankful and don't know what to say.

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January 7, 2012

January 4, 2012

  • I'm Half Way Through "The Girl

    ...Who Played With Fire",  and I'm not sure I like these books.   I tell you it took me 300 pages to get "into" the first one,  'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", the first of the overly hyped and verbose tomes that Stieg Larson submitted just before dying...

    I am not sure about "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest"... 

    I would have put the first one down if friends had not encouraged me to continue.  I tell you it was dry.   There was just enough sprinkled in to keep me going.

    I found my suspension of disbelief fully tested about one detail that solved a riddle/crime and was actually disappointed at the outcome, and I can't say why without giving away the ending. Shit.

    This second in the series is better starting out.  Something keeps me going but at the same time I don't find it exhilarating,  neither were either the Swedish version of the movie and the recent American release of the first in the series (which gives away foreshadowing of what is to come where the first book does not).  Two more American versions are bound to follow.

    Anyhow,  I read a couple of books before I started the "Girl" series;   "Murder on Sister's Row" by Victoria Thompson, 13th in the Gaslight Murder Mystery series which I love (takes places in 1890's Manhattan!!)  "Zero, The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" forgot the author, interesting and complex.   Actually quite eye opening to read about the concept of worlds and cultures where Zero did not exist, such as ancient Egypt.

    My hand which was operated on is now better than the regular hand.  I need to get the second surgery, I don't know when.  My right is not as bad as my left was anyhow...

    I just felt like blogging after all this time.
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