Annual cookout yesterday. It started out very well (though if I'd realized that Chad was trying to convince one of the kids that werewolves are allergic to Nerf, I would've intervened), but a couple hours in my vision started going wonky. I took my contacts out, but I knew even as I did so that it was futile: sure enough, it was a migraine. My standard response is Excedrin [*], but that has acetaminophen and I'd had a glass of wine earlier; probably I was being overly paranoid, but I really like having a functioning liver. So I quietly went upstairs and laid down. It actually passed quicker than I expected, but not enough for me to go back to the party, which was too bad because I was having fun.
[*] My migraines are extremely mild on the absolute scale of migraines, and don't show up that often. Excedrin knocks out the pain almost completely, though I'm not crazy about the side effects. I took a couple ibuprofen last night, though I have no reason to believe they did anything.
Today I had an appointment to give platelets at 9, for the first time since October. It didn't happen, but at least it wasn't my fault this time. Usually when I can't give blood it's because I've just developed a sinus infection, or my red cell count is too low, or, once, because they can't get a vein. Today they got both veins (for platelets they return the red blood cells and saline through the other arm), though the second, the left, hurt like a bitch; I don't know if it was a matter of skill or just a buildup of scar tissue on that vein. And then, a minute after the left arm's been done, the person who'd stuck my right arm made a this-isn't-right noise and started doing something; shortly after that, I found myself saying, "Okay, I don't know what that is, but it is uncomfortable."
The needle in the right arm had nicked the back of the vein. What I was feeling was saline being pumped into the surrounding muscle.
And then there was fussing and apologies and cleaning-up and futile attempts to find another vein, and then I came home.
I don't know what my arms are going to look like tomorrow, but actually the left, the one with the immediately-painful stick, hurt more after I got home. I'm icing both just to be safe.
I'm also feeling queasy and cranky and wiped out, which is pretty much how I felt after the time they spent a while fishing around for a vein. I don't know if the leftovers of the migraine are contributing, but I feel simultaneously wimpy, since it wasn't that painful, and worried that the Red Cross is going to give me a needle phobia, which would be bad news for both of us.
But at least I got to see half an hour of Ocean's Eleven, which I could re-watch very often indeed. After I got home, caught up on the Internet (our DSL had been out since Friday night), and ate, I finished re-watching the movie (well, I fast-forwarded all the Tess scenes). I just love the groove of the dialogue, especially between Danny and Rusty. I wish the plot of the second hadn't been so bad that it wiped my memory of whether its dialogue was as good.
Some follow-ups:
- Conclusions from the "Erie Canal" poll: people who know the song out-number those who don't 2 to 1. The vast majority know the variant I'm familiar with, which is not about gin. As I suspected, New York was the big leader for those who learned it in school (though not everyone who went to school in New York learned it), but there was a respectable geographical scattering
Also, though I knew this already: ticking off boxes is fun.
- In related news,
rachelmanija has a general poll on folk music familiarity and a follow-up post. - I've just finished buying all seven seasons of Homicide on DVD for $20 a season (though only the set of seasons 1-2 has arrived so far).
homicidereruns, here I come (when things settle down some). Also, if anyone wants to know how to get the DVDs cheaply, give a yell. - papersky has a thoughtful post about lies springing off the whole MsScribe affair.
Finally, a request for advice. I have a few very small scrapes and dents on my car, at least one of which is fully three years old. I noticed this week that the paint around these is flaking and rust seems to showing. I blame the miserable weather we've been having basically all year, but whatever. The question is, is there anything I myself can do to stop the damage from getting worse, or is this a job for professionals?