Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Perimenopause

Good Grief! i had a gyno appointment yesterday, just a check up. i had a few questions about being 'irregular' (like when have i ever been regular?) i thought maybe it was a side effect from being off the steriods.

Nope. Perimenopause.
Soon i'll be sitting with slave catherine, chanting "is it hot in here or is it just me?"

Monday, January 30, 2006

The Weekend

Weel, after the absolute crappy and mayhem filled week we had - we ended up having a great weekend.
Thursday we did the TES Queer SIG piercing demo. That went really well, especially since we had less than 24 hours to put together the presentation and make a coherent class handout. i had a blast!

Friday was chill out time and catch up on domestic things. Relaxing.

Saturday i ran around like a nut getting ready for the show. i think i tried on at least 50 outfits, so darn nervous. Arrugh! Would we get along? Would old wounds get re-opened? Would we have anything to speak about? The emails Pete/Jack and i have been exchanging seemed friendly enough, but you never can tell how it'll go in person.
Well, i have to say that i had one of the most pleasant and gratifying experiences that i've had in a long time. There's still a total connection there. It was as if there wasn't this huge time gap there. Conversations picked up from years ago, right where they left off. Sir and Pete/Jack bickered over music and hair and the usual things - i egged them both on! Nothings changed.
The rest of the band were an awesome group of people who i look forward to getting to know better.
It was a lot of fun running interference between his fans and blocking them from watching him change into his stage clothes! Ah, the life of a rock star.

We'll be getting together soon. i'm supposed to get a private tour of the MET (on a day the museum is closed!) in his company, that will be amazing to have that experience all to myself!

i am a very happy girl! Lucky to have such a good and true hearted friend to re-connect with. (and it helps that he's a leather & hot boots & sandalwood wearin' guy.) sigh!

Sunday i knew Sir would have no mercy on my hung-over tired self and i'd still be dragged to the gym. Somehow i woke up at 6:30 am. Feeling like a baby dragon used my mouth as a litter box. But still really flying emotionally from the whole night. i had am awesome workout, a few personal bests. Then a taxing day at Sir's Aunt's house to assemble some furniture. my old butt doesn't like sitting on cold tile while working! Ouch! Home to a nice meal of roasted chicken with rosemary and baby potatoes with lemon and garlic.

Fantastic! The week ended exactly as i needed it to, with some great communication with Sir and reconnection to a dear friend.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

It's done

i swore i wouldn't post again today, but i wanted to let my faithful readers know that the deed is done. Mr. Basil Dogbone left this world at around 7:30 pm. Held safely in our arms. i am happy to report that he was as high as a kite and it was such a relief to see him feeling no more pain for a few minutes as we waited for the tranquilizer to set in before we administered the "final shot".

It's a blessing to be able to send him on his way in peace. i got to see Sir weep, a very rare thing. i told Him that i loved Him more because He was able to cry with me.

Taybor keeps looking around the house for his big brother.

The house is too quiet.

Today's the day

Sir and i have an appointment at 7pm to put Basil to sleep. i came home early from work to spend a few hours alone with him. He didn't get up to greet me, and at first i couldn't find him in any of his usual nap spots. Then i heard the thump of his wagging tail. He was sprawled out on my bed on the floor. He didn't get up but when i got on the floor with him, he was full of kisses and snuggles.

After a few minutes of snuggling he got up and made his way to the kitchen where he chowed down on all the snacks i left him this morning. Smoked pig ears, cheese.... a doggie delight! i fixed him up a bowl of chicken parts, brown rice and broth - again, right down the hatch. Slowly and carefully - but at least he's enjoying what he eats.

Taybor is being very tentative and careful around Baz. You can tell that Tay knows something is wrong. In fact, last night Taybor walked out of the living room and went on Sir's bed to eat a rawhide. He never does that. He always wants to be where we are, but i think the tension is too much.

i feel so horrible saying this but i want this to be over. For Basil's sake and Taybors. So we can move on. i don't mean so that i can forget or so my pain will be less. It's just that there's such a spector of death here and the pain is just radiating out of all 4 of us. It hurts to breathe.

Ugh. i don't even know what i'm saying. i'm going to go rumpus with Taybor for a while and then try to nap in the sun patch with Basil for the last time. my nap buddy, he loves to snuggle for an afternoon nap with me.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Mr Basil

Well, if you've been keeping up with Sir's journal, i'm sure you know by now that Baz has taken a major turn for the worst. He's hurting internally, he's being very snappy with Taybor. He's just not a happy dude. It hurts my heart to see him wanting to play, he runs (slowly) to get a toy and engage Taybor in a tug of war, but as soon as Tay touches him - he freaks out and is definitely in pain.

i'm cooking up some good snacks for him (gizzards and livers and other doggie things) so he can have some good meals. i hate to feel like i'm making him his "last meal" but really, if we must "put him to sleep" this week (and i have a feeling that we will) then i want him to enjoy his favorites. He's going to have all the cheese and biscuits and chicken liver that he wants.

It's just so hard to know exactly when the right time is. He can't tell you that he's done and had enough. It's always guess work. In the past, i think we sometimes waited too long in prolonging our pets lives - and that's just selfish on our part because we don't want to say good bye.

When we had to put our dog Chaos to sleep (the first pet we had together) it was so hard. Our vet actually sighed with relief and said we were doing the right thing, finally. That made me feel horrible, but i totally understood what she was saying. He was not happy, not eating and it was past time to do what needed to be done.

My little Pippin, sweet ferret, was blind & bald and going deaf - but each day was a joy to her and blind and weird looking as she was, showed that she was enjoying life right until the end. The decision to end her life was clear cut and easy to make, although not easy to carry out.

It's tough. With each pet death, i ask myself why we continue to share our lives with animals that will obviously die before we probably will. No easy answer for that one. They've become such a part of my life that i'll never be with out a dog. Nothing can ever come close to the feeling i get when no matter how long i'm gone - if i am gone all day at work or just ran out for 1 minute to get the mail - i get the same greeting. As if i am really the center of the Universe and they are so darn happy to see me. Maybe that's totally narcissistic, but who cares?

Dogs have taught me more about unconditional love that almost any human ever has. That, i think, makes the grief in their passing worth suffering through.

spiffy

Here's a picture of me with my spiffy new glasses that Sir picked out for me. i very rarely wear glasses in public - they're really to get me from bed to the bathroom, so i can put in my contacts. But these i like so much, i might actually wear in public!
(Did i mention how much i love blogging from the cell phone camera that Sir got me for xmas?)

Friday, January 20, 2006

Oy what a week!

One of my co-workers got canned, my boss is cranky, everyone here is out of sorts - it's like there's some mildly poison gas here and it affecting everyone's mood. Icky. i hate it!
Sir's having about the same week that i am - lots of poisonous backstabbing corporate bull going on there. It's not a full moon or anything! Damn!

i have to say that i look so forward to coming home each night. More so when we've had days like this. Even if Sir's withdrawn and not able to talk about how rotten the day was, we're still in a circle of self imposed peace at home. OK, so the dogs are growlin' and bickering, but still - i'd rather listen to dogs bickering over toys than people doing the same thing over even more ridiculous things. At least when the dogs are at it, it's over a good prize like a piece of cheese or a soft cushion. Humans bicker over status and that's just stupid!

Sunday Sir and sbc will be at MAsT NY (the men's group)so me and my vagina will stay home and play in the studio and do some cookin'. Maybe watch some crusty costume drama that Sir hates. Sounds like a nice man-free day!

That's all for now, i have to lock up the office and head home to meet Sir. Then we're off to pick out some swanky eye glasses for me. Not that anyone will ever see me in them, they're strictly to get me from my bed to the bathroom where i can insert my contacts. But my old ones are over 6 years old and not even close to the correct prescription.
Then it's home for QUALITY TIME - popcorn (real popcorn, cooked on the stove, with real butter!)and movies and snuggling. Hopefully the dogs will settle in and be quiet. Although, Basil and Taybor have a fondness for popcorn! So there may be some bickering! :-)

Monday, January 16, 2006

alpha?

What a busy weekend! i feel like i was beaten up and fucked almost to death. Oh, wait - i was!

Friday's DSF presentation went really well. Although, i still could only hear myself speaking as 'whaa whaa whaa' in my own head - apparently i spoke clearly and made sense. Except the comment about Sir being like planet earth. Whatever - so i lost my mind! It took well over an hour after the presentation to finally answer all the personal, private questions that people wanted to ask but weren't comfortable asking in front of the whole audience. Since i was called Sir's alpha slave in front of so many witnesses - repeatedly, i guess it must be true!

We got down to playing and i got my ass beat. Excellent. i haven't had a good thrashing like that in a long time. Still, not one mark on me! my platelet count must be well over 300,000 right now. Nice!

Got to hang with Mr. s and sbc all weekend. That was cool! sbc was so helpful the whole weekend. i am beginning to really depend on him to help me and it's really a joy to have him around. Mr. s was his usual feisty and extremely pleasant self. One cool dude, truly.

Saturday was the central NJ MAsT Meeting. Very cool - nice turn out. Sir and i got to do another 'presentation' or actually a stapling demo. i thought i'd be the demo bottom - but some one else ended up in the chair *grin* and did VERY VERY well! What a brave little dirty girl! So i got to be helpful nurse barb and i must say i had fun speaking on what was going on, how it felt, what could go wrong, and how much fun it can be!

Sunday i had my art class with Debbie Tlach (an example of her work)- i white knuckle drove down to the studio - man, the roads were bad from the ice storm. i kept thinking i should turn around and go home, so many accidents on the road - but i was determined to get there. As it turned out, 20 women drove thru that crap to get there, not one person stayed home.

Fun class - over crowded but i learned a lot of new techniques and had a blast. One really weird thing happened. A woman walked in and i did a double take because i could have sworn that i knew her. She came right up to me and said -" i know you. From where?" i said ' i don't know, but i think your name is Ruth" and it was! We spent the next 6 hours of class time, trying to figure it out. i think it really freaked us both out quite a bit. Very strange.

i also got to help out during this class with a lot of the basic technique. It was more of an advanced polymer clay class and i've done a ton of sculpture with that medium before. So i helped people with the basics, some knot work to finish the jewelry, how to use a dremel tool, etc. i surprised myself with how much i already knew. (i was also surprised at how unprepared for an advanced class people were, but hey - at least they showed up and tried!)

I came home with new tools for my studio, new techniques to try out and a new found confidence in my skills.

Three presentations/demos in one weekend. Pshew! i need a rest!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

busy busy busy

SO darn busy this week. i had a great day on the road, visiting my clients. Got some great news - they were bought out by an Icelandic company and i was sure we'd loose the business but i got word today it looks like we keep it AND get another location or two. i have top put together a presentation and kiss some major butt, but it looks good for us! Go Iceland!

just a few days to our presentation at Paddles - i am totally NOT looking forward to it because, there's no prep that can be done. AND i am all about being prepared, reading up, writing down, rehearsing. Ick - no practice? Unheard of. Absurd.

Then the blessed weekend and Sunday is my art class. Hands on! With a renowned artist who has invented a bunch of crazy products for us to get our hot little hands on. YAY! It's been a while since i've done any works in polymer, so i am a bit intimidated throwing myself headlong in to a class - but screw it! Judge my art? Feh!

Taybor lost one of his fangs yesterday. Sir found it on the carpet. It's so tiny! He's almost up to 40 lbs. OY!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

NYC

Off to MAsT Metro today. Sir let me wear whatever i wanted to i got a bit decked out. Happy girly girl! YAY!
It was great to see Sir Stephen up and about. Oy, that bruise is bad!
Great turn out for the meeting and i got some really fab birthday gifts. Thanks folks! It was so awesome to see giannis and Sir Eric and Lady Christie - i think i haven't see thos guys in almost a year - well, it feels like a year!

Good job by sparky and s.b.c. in re-organizing the collection of meeting fees and sign in. i think that'll work out well. It should be less disruptive for late comers and make the meetings a bit smoother.

Well, i've stretched my birthday out to 3 solid days - let's see if i can make it one solid month! i am still 'owed' a birthday dinner by Sir's Aunt.... a massage at spa from Sir..... a hands-on art class next Sunday....a concert at the end of the month...Yep, i think i can drag this out to a full month! Go me!

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Cold again

Since i came down with yet another cold we didn;t head to the Leather Bar night, instead we stayed home and i rested. OK, actually we watched t.v. and had a lot of birthday sex..... However, slave boy chuck went to the bar night to represent the household and - wow, so many people got me gifts and cards! Pup and Amy got me some awesome cool stuff (yes, i am a sock fiend!!! WOW!) and Sal, Dion and Ton got me some gorgeous flowers! To all - THANK YOU VERY MUCH! it blew me away when sbc came over with arm loads of gifts and flowers today. i really feel loved! sbc got me some really cool Japanese bowls and an Amaryllis. i feel like a Queen.


Today is major catch up day here. We took the tree down and all the decorations. Sad - but Sir is gracious enough to wait until after my birthday to do that. my father used to take that stuff down on my birthday and i always hated that.

i downloaded some of Sir's old band's music from i-tunes. Very weird to get Sir in download form. Weird. Weird! It sounds so good! i am blown away by their talent and remembering all the good times, traveling in the orange v.w. van - with the virgin mary (ask me about her, i'm not typing that story online!) Crazy fun times. Creativity and possibilities pouring out of us at all times. What a blast. i've had an exciting life thus far -i'm a lucky girl!

Friday, January 06, 2006

Catching up

Ahhh, my birthday. 39? Who woulda thunk it? Still crazy! Still weird. i love it!

i've been reaching out to a lot of people from my past. Since one of them is removed from the Leather scene, He's been able to give me astoundingly good advice. i really love that guy! You know who You are! i wish we weren't so far apart in distance but it seems like we've been able to pick up this conversation from 'lo these 20 years ago. Ahh, synchronicity.

The other person i've reached out to was very happy to hear from Sir Larry & i. We'll hopefully get to see him doing a show in NJ on the January 28th. i am excited and nervous about that one. It's always weird seeing people after you left the band that you were in. Most of the time it's like a bad break up with your boyfriend. Even if it was a mutually agreed on split, you can't really be friends anymore. You've just gone thru too much together. At least, that's how it seems to me. But who knows, it's been years and years so maybe wounds have healed and we can talk about old times and how much the youth of today have gone to hell.

i hope that's the case. i really want to stay in contact with those people who influence me, helped me grow, literally saved my life when i needed saving and made me care passionately about things. In fact, just made me passionate in general. ;-)

i'll toast You guys with some absinthe tonight and drink to our continued friendship. Sigh. Here's to Birthdays and old Passion. Keep on!

Later: as promised... Absinthe! The Green Fairy is loose!