Category: A Bit Of Randomness

This category is full of randomness that really doesn’t fit nicely into any of the categories having to do with my road to walking.

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #57

I sat in my kitchen eating my lunch by myself today and I turned my Apple Music U2 playlist on shuffle. I heard this song and I think it enormously strange that I seriously, ALMOST forgot about it because it’s not foremost in my wheelhouse of favorite U2 songs but once it started, I was immediately taken back to being an undergrad and working at the Livonia branch of dfcu financial. It was during the winter when I was playing the Best of 1990 – 2000 album on loop in my car.

I heard this song off and I’m on my way to work or maybe it was on my way home:

U2 has always been my favorite band! I started thinking about this, I think, when I saw this video show up on my YouTube feed.

I shared the video on Facebook on October 2, 2019 when I saw it and I had to say this about it:

That video is showing up again in my YouTube feed now. I can ALWAYS listen to some U2 songs! That’s how I thought of my #57th ALMOST Forgotten Tune. I also have had U2 on my brain because of Sean‘s Parent-Teacher conferences that I went to last Wednesday. Because it is Sean’s senior year, he has “Senior Privilege” which means that he has a shorter school day (only six classes) and multiple classes are electives because he has already obtained a majority of credits needed for graduation. He currently has a, “Music Appreciation” class.

I have asked Sean pretty much every day since school started if they talked about u2 in class. He shakes his head and smiles at me and tells me that they haven’t. I gave Sean basic facts about them, just in case. I told him that U2 formed the band in 1975 and their first album was not released until 1981 and it was titled, Boy.

I told Sean‘s teacher about this in our conference and he asked me which album. I told him that I like both best of albums but I cited one of my favorite songs:

I also told him about another one of my favorite songs that they played when I saw them in concert in 2006 but the crowd didn’t pick up the song so he stopped singing it. I was singing! But I think I was too far away from the stage so..,

PT, OT, and Barwis

After I saw my neurologist in September, my neurologist’s nurse arranged for me to receive physical therapy in my home. A woman named Sajada came over to see me a few weeks ago. She took my blood pressure and asked me a bunch of medical questions. She asked me what my pain was on the pain scale that I am very familiar with. She is a doctor of physical therapy and she told me I need to get an occupational therapist to come see me because she was not able to work with my legs. She had me work on a portable arm bike and put weights on my wrists to do certain exercises. She left Thera Bands for me to work with.

I was extremely familiar with all the exercises I completed with her and it made me miss Barwis a lot. I saw an occupational therapist named Guen last week and she watched how I navigate in through my home. She documented how I transfer with my Mom and wrote orders for an electric Hoyer lift. Sadly, it’s like that now. We talked about my pain level and the fact that I experience most of my pain in my right knee and I told her about my injury and subsequent surgery. She asked how the rest of my body feels and I told her that I have been in pain for so long that I can’t gauge what my pain level is.

She accepted my answer and it made me miss Barwis even more! It is my hope to get back there one day but I have some difficulty imagining that my knee will stop hurting so much. Given that both of my teams lost this weekend (Michigan and the Detroit Lions), everything hurts more. I’m not even finding solace in that Jewel song even though it’s in my head a lot.

Looking Forward

My Mom picked up Chinese food for me yesterday. Actually, I think it’s Cantonese. Either way, I got almond chicken. I ate my dinner yesterday and my lunch today because they give out a lot of food. I got a fortune cookie yesterday and this was my fortune:

I liked reading that fortune and I would like to believe it’s true. However, I can’t really see that right now because every day my disease progresses. It kind of bums me out! Looking forward to me may not necessarily be a good thing! That was a topic of discussion in one of my MS support groups and I really have been thinking about it.

I got pretty bummed out and during the month of October, when I am bummed out, a sure fire way to cheer up is to watch Hocus Pocus. Today was my 25th time seeing it this October. That means that it only has cost me $.80 each time I watch it and the month isn’t even over!

I’m not going to count my viewing on Friday because I am going to the IMAX to see it. So, I guess, that’s something to look forward to!

“Oh Mom, Your Face?!”

Our alarms didn’t go off this morning so consequently, Sean woke up almost an hour after he should have first school! He was in the shower when my mom got here this morning to get me out of bed. She got me situated in my will chair and I will put two in front of the TV and turned on GMFB.

Normally, my Mom goes into the kitchen to make herself some coffee as a sit and try to acclimate myself to being awake. This morning, Sean was in the house and he caught a glimpse of my face.

Now, I am definitely NOT a morning person that I have written about TONS of times! Sean really never sees me in the morning! Things have morphed to him just kissing me on my forehead just before he leaves for school and after he does this, I lay in bed and still try to wake up. I don’t wake up until my Mom comes over and helps me.

He came out of the bathroom and looked at me as I tried waking up with GMFB playing on TV. He’s sad, “Oh mom, your face?!” I almost smiled and then my Mom called from the kitchen that she thinks that my face looks awful too! She told Sean that my face looks like that for about an hour. Hearing him say that makes me believe that l REALLY AM allergic to the mornings!

I am so, “Out of it” in the morning that I didn’t even think to take a picture but I think my face is pretty close to the picture above because that’s how I feel! Sean took me to get my eyebrows waxed this evening and here is proof:

I snapped that picture of myself as I retrieved Hocus Pocus.

I just finished watching it for the 26th time this month. It has only cost me $.77 each time I’ve seen it and the month isn’t even over yet!

Tune #36, #37, #38 Inspired by GMFB

I wasn’t up and in front of my TV until almost 8 o’clock this morning. So, I missed the first hour but I would catch that on the replay right after. I haven’t been feeling very well in the morning lately so I haven’t Tweeted the breakfast table much. I still was able to get out a few though. Kyle was talking with Kay he said, “Discombobulated” which made me laugh and I thought of young Sean and his deductive reasoning of a five-year-old and thinking that “Combobulated” was word. A follower of mine let me know that Kyle muted her a while ago.

I wondered about that because I annoy all of them with tweets constantly and wonder if I will ever be muted on Twitter. I did send a tweet to Kyle regarding Peter’s top-five underrated quarterbacks:

When Peter talked about #4, Kyle said that, “He moves in mysterious ways.“. Well, OF COURSE!!!:

Then the conversation switched to back up quarterbacks. Seeing that this is pretty much the year of the back up quarterback, Peter talked about replacements for Hollywood roles that I wasn’t aware of! He said that Chris Farley was supposed to be Shrek but due to his untimely death, Mike Myers filled in with his Scottish accent. Kyle said something about Smash Mouth which got me thinking about my senior year and this song played in my car when I was with my friends all the time!:

Lastly, I watched the beginning of the show after it ended at ten-o’clock. Shaun O’Jara (filling in for Nate) was talking about the Panthers and Cam not playing in the back of did you get into the rhythm and he talked about Janet Jackson’s, Rhythm Nation:

When I searched for information regarding this post on gmfb’s Twitter page, I saw this picture of Ron Rivera and I HAVE TO get that shirt!

Tune #39 Inspired by GMFB

Shaun O’Hara covered for Kyle today and he covered for Nate for the beginning of the week. He did a really good job! His eyes were so much more striking than when he would be in a suit for Total Access. He looked really at home today at the breakfast table:

They talked about Ron Rivera wearing his GMFB shirt and his presser and copied this picture from Twitter, I tweeted it out too:

I DEFINITELY will have to get one of those shirts! I think Shaun held his own and this song is playing over and over again in my head (It reminds me of my oldest brother) since he referenced it when talking about Aaron Donald:

Giant Screen

So, I saw Hocus Pocus last night at The Henry Ford with my, “2 Sacreds.” (Sean and my Mom)

One of my Facebook friends said that it would be so much better with the giant screen. She was COMPLETELY correct! I bundled up to the nine‘s last night and even wore a blanket on my lap. Getting there was a bit on the brisk side and a little bit longer than I thought it was going to be but we made it!

Sean said that he missed some of the dialogue but he caught it on the giant screen. I reminded him that I have seen the movie 28 times this October so I didn’t miss anything but I really enjoyed the giant screen!

Sidewalks on the way there were a little bit bumpy and even a bit hazardous for me but with Sean and my Mom looking out, I made it there and back safely!

This was only my second venture out of my house and using my chair as my mode of transportation. I don’t think I will do it again though! I will have a year until I do this again so I will just save money to rent a vehicle because I think this could be a new tradition!

I’ve spent the day not feeling well and that is just how it goes for me the day after something exciting happens to me! Overall, this was DEFINITELY exciting!!!

2 Days

So, today, it has been two days since I saw Hocus Pocus with my, “Sacreds” (Sean and my Mom) and I really liked it!

But then comes the recovery.

At this point, the recovery takes two days… at least! Both of my football teams won this weekend and I’m still not really feeling it. I recorded both of them so hopefully I will get Hope at the rewatch! Today, after the Lions game (which I have only seen the last half of) I watched Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. Now, when I say, “Watched,” it really wasn’t that. I was in and out of sleep for the entire movies but they are movies that I saw last Christmas season so it was OK.

So, today is also a lazy, napping day. I wonder if I will recover on Monday to continue my Hocus Pocus movie watching because I haven’t reached 31 yet but then I saw this trailer on Facebook:

I’m pretty sure that it’s too early for Christmas movies but this song is my jam! i put the Packers game on that’s starting very shortly and I wonder if I will stay awake… because I am not interested in either team, like the Magic 8 Ball that I have always wanted; “The outlook is not so good…”

A 3rd Day?!

I think that it’s primarily the weather that has caused my, “Fun Day hangover“ to continue for a 3rd day. Really?! A 3rd day?!

I was pretty out of it this morning as I watched GMFB. My Mom commented on my face while we completed our morning routine. She told me that it looked miserable and I let her know that it FEELS miserable! My knee popped out three times as we completed our routine which hurts so badly!

I spent the early afternoon in and out of sleep and I was extremely uncomfortable. I have already graduated to wearing a winter hat in my house. It’s actually Sean‘s winter hat. It’s a Carhart hat and it’s pretty warm!

After a while of sleeping on and off, I was awake and I watched Hocus Povus. I kind of had to set myself straight because it’s too early for Christmas movies just yet. We haven’t even had Halloween! I think it is the 29th time I have watched that movie this October and it was well-worth the price of buying in on Xfinity. I’m getting my money’s worth for sure!

Maybe this is just the cold settling into my bones and I’m just going to feel this awful until spring. That really stinks!

Good Show

Toward the end of GMFB, my Mom got to my house and went to the kitchen to begin making us some breakfast. It was more of a brunch because it was kind of late but we can’t begin our morning routine until after I have eaten something. Because it is gotten colder; I have stopped drinking my protein shakes. I prefer to eat something warm.

She brought tortillas with her for Sean and I told her that I wanted eggs and sausage. She asked me if I wanted them in a tortilla. Well, OF COURSE I do!!! Is that even a question?!

She handed me a tortilla filled with hard eggs and bits of sausage. I took a bite, closed my eyes, and I told her that it reminds me of Texas! Breakfast burritos will always do that to/for me! We started talking about the fact that my Dad had always made the BEST eggs!

Because Sean will be 18 on Saturday, I recounted the story of my Dad waking me up and offering to cook me breakfast because he had something to talk to me about. He told me that my Mom and he were bothered and concerned about the fact that I was NOT coming home for dinner. It was the summer after my senior year?! I was moving to Kalamazoo in the fall to attend WMU, I just wanted to be with my friends! I told him that I was moving to the OTHER side of the state and that he just didn’t understand.

I continued my story by telling my Mom that back then, I was seated at her dining room table and was freely swinging my legs. (Back when I still could control my legs). I told her that I will never forget in my entire life my Dad taking a step back in her kitchen so he could look directly into my eyes and telling me with the utmost to gravity, “At least you know you’re coming back!”

I stopped swinging by legs immediately and understood that even though my Dad did not have the, “College experience,” he’d let me know in those six words that being shipped up to Vietnam to fight in a war was so much bigger than anything I was doing that summer! I NEVER was late for dinner again as long as I’ve lived with my parents.

After we both finished our breakfast, we began our routine. My Dad was on my mind and we started talking about his funeral. There are so many events from that time, even 13 years later, that are crystal clear to me but I still can’t remember anyone’s face at the mausoleum. I do not even know who was there. Everyone wanted to hug me though but I was so distraught I just let my hands fall to my sides and allowed myself to be hugged but I could not even return the hug.

As my Mom washed my hair this morning, I let the tears flow freely. My Mom added that that was the best funeral! It really was! I think it was the day after the funeral where I told my Mom that I pictured my Dad standing in the back with his arms crossed over his chest and slowly nodding his head with a determined frown on his face and saying, “Good show!”

It really WAS a Good show! Pretty much the BEST! Even as I write this, I can’t stop crying but I have had fond memories of my Dad and I wonder what he would think about Sean being 18 in just five days!