Synaesthesia

Hello there all (all 1 to 3 of you LOLOL) -- It's been awhile since I have "blogged," so I figured, "oh what the heck -- I will try to write something tonight."

On a Synaesthesia list I am on someone wanted images of how some of us "see" time and since I couldn't find the artwork I did before of my days of the week and months of the year, I decided to re-do them. It took me awhile and even after all the work they still are not perfect, but I tried. I still think Synaesthesia is such a strange and fascinating thing.

This first one is how I see the months of the year:



I have often wondered why the months are uneven in size and placement. The only thing I can think of is since I had this concept of the months of the year since I was a kid -- maybe the summer months are so long and stretched out because that is how summer IS for children. Altho I still see the months this way and of course ALL months go by very quickly for me now at this age. lol

Here is how I see the days of the week - starting with Sunday. (altho the rendering doesn't accurately show how Tuesdays are supposed to be a clear sparkly crystal):

It is about a young girl who had a heart attack on "House" tonight. Normally I like that show but tonight's topic is a bit too scary for me tonight so I guess I will try to find something else to watch. I wasn't sure if I was having a heart attack the other night (fortunately it turns out I wasn't - but it scared me at the time). The sleep apnea was really acting up -- not allowing me to sleep even on my side and even sitting up! (grrrr) My arms started going numb and I could hear my heart pound in my ears. Needless to say it was an awful night -- I didn't get much sleep (if any) at all.

I must admit -- I really admire how so many people seem to be able to find something to "blog" about. I really find it hard to think of things to say. It is not as if I don't have a lot of interests, and as most, I do have opinions on things, but somehow, I just can't seem to think of much to say when I sit down to "blog."

Oh well ......

I just HAVE to post this....

I love this ad. LOL

It was George Harrison's Birthday yesterday...

.... I slept thru the day. :-( I sure miss him. He would have been 65 years old yesterday. Sounds rather old but he sure was aging well. (58 years old is way too young to die, in my opinion)

I love this song below. George wrote it for the "Lethal Weapon 2" movie. "Cheer Down." Great song! :-)

On a nicer note ...

We are having a total lunar eclipse right now and it is so neat~ I prefer a total SOLAR eclipse of course -- they are much more spectacular -- but lunar ones are special too. In Northern Oregon, the moon was partially eclipsed as it rose in the Eastern skies this evening. It got to totality around 7 pm and the total phase lasted almost a full hour! The face of it darkenned to an orange colour. Now it is almost halfway un-covered again.

I did another sleep test last night

I found out that my sleep apnea is a lot worse than I prevoiusly thought. I thought maybe I stopped breathing 40 times an hour but it turns out that I stop breathing 123 times an hour!! Eeeeeek! :-( So I stop breathing two times every minute! Blah

So last night was to try to set me up with one of those Cpap machines. On the PLUS side == I could tell it was helping me to breathe, but on the minus side - it was hard to get ANY sleep at all with this thing on my face and all the straps and wires etc.... talk about claustophobia! And the masks kept leaking so the technician would come in with a different mask for me to try out and then a wire would come off and he had to put it back on ... Needless to day == I am not sure I got much sleep at all. So then I did my usual and slept all day when I got home. :-( (Not exactly how I want to spend my life)

Still, if we all could get this thing working -- they say that it should help with depression, and hormones, and weight etc, and of course have less chances of heart attacks or strokes...... I sure hope I can get this thing working cuz it would be a turn-around for my life, I think.

Check this out ....

I hope this works -- this is a neat video (in my opinion). To give credit where it is due -- I first saw it on Malicious Intent's page but some people who frequent my page may like it as well. (If I did it right.... :-)

Here is my attempt......

.......at a somewhat serious post. I don't feel as good at writing as most bloggers out there, so I am not even sure how to word this -- but I will try. This isn't a big world issue or anything -- it is just something that has bothered me for the last 5 or 6 years as I have noticed it happenning more and more....

Alot of people, in blogs, emails, written chats, (as opposed to voice chats) etc, seem to be confusing the words "then" and "than" quite often! It is not a "typo" because I see it repeated over and over in some very long emails/blogs/posts that are otherwise written perfectly!

There is quite a difference in meaning between these two words so when I see them used incorrectly it lessens the impact of what otherwise would be very powerful posts/blogs/etc. **(By the way - I am not referring to anyone that I have read recently on "Blogger." I have no particular person in mind as I type this. It is just a trend that I have been seeing for at least 5 years now, and I am hoping to do what I can to change it in my own little corner of the Internet. )** :-)

"Then" refers to time (as in "now and then" or "When I get my new computer, THEN I will be able to create fancier graphics."). Whereas "than" is often used in comparative sentences - (ie: "I would rather go for a walk in the rain THAN drive in the oppressive heat.") There are other ways these two are used in sentences as well but I am just writing from the top of my head.

So, even though this is hardly an Earth-shattering, life-threatening problem, and even though I know that I probably make far more mistakes in my writings (with grammer problems, run-on sentences, spelling etc - lol), I would still like to request that people out there "RE" - learn the different meanings of the words; "then" and "than" and use them correctly. It will make the blogs/emails/posts etc that DO have more important things to say come across with far more strength! :-)

~**Thanks for your ear .... we now return you to your regularly broadcast channels.**~ (grin) :-D

Here ya go...--

Here's a neat kitty pic, ( below) for ya, Alpha, (if you still come by and read this blog). It was fun viewing those cute cat pics that you had the other night, thank you. :-) You can find many of them at the site where I got the cat pic below. Isn't that a funny one? Velcro kitty! LOL

I stayed up too late again -- Ugh -- :-( I had/have a lot of things I need to do in RL today and now I feel like canceling them all, because I think it will be hard for me to get to sleep (if I do) at 9:30 am or so and have to wake up again 2.5 to 3 hours later. (Blah)

I suppose I COULD just try to stay up without sleeping at ALL but I don't think it would be safe to drive places with no sleep at all. :-(

Testing....

moar humorous pics

I should be in bed - attempting to sleep but....

... I am fighting it again. I guess part of it is that now that I know that I stop breathing at least 40 times an hour - I am more nervous about trying to sleep. I knew I had sleep apnea before (people have told me I stop breathing and should have it checked for years) but I figured it only happenned maybe once or twice a week! To find out (after a sleep test overnight at the hospital this past Tuesday) that it happens SOOOOO often per hour, and is a severe case of it, really has me freaked. :-(

I think my siamese mix cat, Tai Chi, tries to wake me up from apnea episodes by licking my face with her rough tongue. It is not a usual lick "asking for permission" to sleep near me -- or a lick cuz my skin tastes good, or even a cat face washing ... it is a much more determined licking than that, and she doesn't stop 'til I wake up and then she stops immediately. When she does this -- it even comes into my dreams. Just last night I dreampt that a cat was washing my face and it was hurting cuz it's tongue was so rough, ... so I moved the cat away (in my dream) and then I was surprized (again, in the dream) because I still felt the scratchy tongue on my face! I finally rose to consciousness and there she was. She stopped immediately and settled down. I think she is my little "apnea interrupter-cat."

I just wish that I didn't have sleep apnea because it really hurts my chest and I often wake up with my heart pounding in my ears. There is a good chance of having a stroke or a heart attack with sleep apnea. It is VERY bad for the heart to stop breathing like that -- and of course the oxygen levels go down. Evidently I haven't had a restful night of sleep for ages. It now makes more sense that I have this insomnia -- I am sure that I am afraid to sleep, so I often stay up for over 24 hours which is also not good for me. At least now, maybe I can be a bit more forgiving of myself for this sleep problem that I used to think was laziness -- but still -- I don't want to deal with this.

On top of things-- they are saying the insurance might not pay for the test last Tuesday night (at $2000) and for the 2nd night I need to spend there to try to get a C-PAP oxygen mask thingy set-up (ANOTHER $2000?) (eeek) Of course, I have to find a way to pay for it no matter what cuz this is a matter of health but still -- I really hate this. :-(

SORRY to be complaining here --- I usually try to be a somewhat cheerful person --- but I guess it does help to vent a bit and I have no where else to put these feelings. I hope whomever reads this can forgive me in advance.

*SIGH*

To be honest, I'm scared. From what I hear, it is hard keeping the C-PAP mask etc clean = esp if the house is messy with dust and cat hair (which this apt is) It just seems like my health, apartment, LIFE, is in worse shape than it has EVER been before -- and I don't see much hope in things getting better. In many ways it is my own fault but knowing that doesnt help me turn things around.

Blah -- I really was NOT intending to write about all this -- I was GOING to write my desire to see people be more careful about using "then" and "than" properly -- lol -- but I guess I had these health problems on my mind and heart. Maybe I can write about "then" and "than" later, sometime. :-)

I keep trying to call my regular Dr about this -- the tech at the Sleep lab said that I need to make an appointment to get set up with the Oxygen mask ASAP . But my stupid Dr's office keeps saying they will call back and then they don't. Now it is the weekend and I still have no appointment schedualed for next week. :-(

Well, thank you for letting me vent -- I guess I should face sleeping now ---not that I want to. -- I am tired but I hate how much of a struggle sleep has become. Hopefully I will be in a better mood the next time I "blog" here. :-D

Hi there

Here is a VERY dinky George drawing I did awhile ago. :D

Darn -- I live too LOW for the SNOW!

I woke up this morning to pouring rain but I could tell that there must have been a SMALL trace of snow last night cuz I could see a small bit of it on our carport roofs.....And as I watched the rain fall I could see a small FLAKE of snow in there every now and then. So I decided to go out snow hunting. I drove out of our apt complex driveway and up maybe three houses and already I could see more snow on the ground. Then I drove further up the hill (I live at the bottom of a dormant volcano) and towards the TOP of "mountain park' it was a winter fairy land!!!!! (DARN IT_ I am SOOOO jealous!) It looked like they probably had gotten at least 4 to 6 inches of snow -- it covered the ground, trees, roofs, the street..... It looked wonderful! It was still raining up there but they had so much that I doubt the rain will melt it before tonight when they will probably get snow again! I must admit, I sure wish I had chosen a higher elevation place to live when I went searching for apts. It is such torture to have snow so CLOSE and yet so far -- STILL -- it was a lot of fun to at least be able to drive up into it. I wish I had one of those camera phones cuz I would have taken pictures but my phone is an oldie and a moldie that just calls people (how strange for a phone to just do that lolol)

Someone had made a family of "snowmen" including a "snowDOG" :-) And they were all holding open umbrellas over their heads. I would have loved to have taken a picture of that to put here for you all and to send in to our local news station that wants snow pics.

Since I was out anyway -- I decided to drive to Target to get some head sets for my phones. Just driving a few blocks down the road into Tigard -- all the snow was gone and it was just regular wet roads. I sure WISH that we would get some snow down to the "Valley" floor. Still -- it was neat seeing snow anyway. :-)