It's a bad news/good news kinda thing, but I'm going to focus on the good aspects of it...

Finally got to a doctor yesterday and got my shoulder checked out.  What I was afraid might be a rotator cuff injury or rheumatoid arthritis is, actually, most likely just severe tendonitis and/or bursitis, and should be cleared up with some anti-inflammatory meds and physical therapy.  The other potential health concerns I had, in talking to the doctor (first non-emergency doctor visit I've had in over two decades), are all things to be noted, but not necessarily concerned about, as none of them sounded severe enough to be alarming and/or I could describe specific conditions that caused them (like my migraines).

The ironic thing?  The day after the visit, I'm coming down with a serious cold...

My grades were finally changed, finally another worry off my shoulders. ^___^

In reply to facemaker329 (msg # 196):

Glad it's not a rotator cuff problem, but I'd suggest when you're in therapy, you ask for some guidelines/exercises for that too.  In your line of work, I'd expect you to be at risk, and some pre-knowledge might avoid that.

And if it wasn't so soon after, I'd say you caught the cold at the doctor's - prime place for exposure!

For myself - had a lovely evening last night with my sisters and daughter, in honour of my mother's birthday.  She died in the fall, but we had always done this (and several others have birthdays around this time), so we've decided to continue the tradition, and it was a great idea!

In reply to Brianna (msg # 198):

No, I'm pretty sure how I ended up with the cold, and it wasn't the doctor's office.  Both Friday and Saturday nights last week, I didn't get to bed until about 6 am, and had been frantically scrambling to get props finished for one show and costumes finished for another.  Between the lack of sleep from those two nights, and the natural post-production letdown, I'm actually surprised I'm not more sick than I am now.

But it was worth it...*grin*

Thank the goddess for backups. :)

I got offered an interview for an internship today. While it's not quite as good as a job interview, it still sounds like it might be a good opportunity.

My Neighbor finally dumped her cheating boyfriend

Had my annual review today and got a 5 (scale 1 to 5) on one of my review tasks. My boss who in my best estimation is a truthful person said that I have been the only person ever to be given a 5 by him for something. Man that sure feels good. Rest of review was good so hopefully I'll remain gainfully employed for a bit longer. :)

I'm not currently on fire.

My puppy came home after running away.

In reply to Dottie_V (msg # 205):

Awesome!

On my own note I am finally feeling somewhat human after weeks of letting my knee heal after a dislocation and several days of my stomach going on revolt. I've managed to eat, sleep, and walk with only a small amount of pain today. It's not much but I'll take it.

:)

I'm reading the Chronicles of Amber and really enjoying them. I'm up to book 4 in a week or less. My games may be suffering slightly, but wow they're good books. :)

Heh...so, our local movie theater just upgraded to digital projection equipment.  A couple of months ago, I was very nervous about the change, because my job at the theater was all about handling the film (I wasn't actually the projectionist, as we didn't have any specific individual for that...I did the film-building--joining the individual reels together, putting the trailers in place, etc--and taking it all apart after we were done and ready to ship it back to the distributors).

In the course of a couple of days, I've gone from being one of the least-educated people on the projection gear to being one of the most knowledgeable, as I'm the only one who's been trained how to put everything together in the new system and I was the only one who was able to be present for all of the training stuff we did between yesterday and today.  Any lingering concerns I had about my job security were cleared up tonight when the manager informed me that she was telling everyone, "If something goes wrong or doesn't start up, call HIM first.  If he can't help you, call me and I'll call the company..."

It's a family-run theater, and I've commented to several people that they've made me feel like I'm part of the family, there.  Now, moreso than ever.  Nice to have a place where your value is truly appreciated...

So I spent the whole day in an amusement park and not once did I have a panic attack nor did I faint when I was forced onto an amazingly high and twisty roller coaster. Yay~! ^___^

Literally more good stuff from the movie theater...

Got a pay raise on my last check...and not just a little one, either.  They increased my pay by 20%.  Granted, it's not like I'm getting paid a phenomenal amount to start with...but this actually makes this the second-highest hourly wage I remember earning (for regular work...if you count the occasional event that I've worked as a makeup artist, it become the fourth or fifth highest wage, but those were one-night affairs and not on-going positions.  And, actually, since the highest hourly wage I recall earning was a short-term scenic art job, I guess it should also be disqualified in that regard).

AND--I was saddened by the death of my DVD player a couple of weeks ago, but I finally got paid for my design job and bought a Blu-Ray player to replace it.  Problem is, my TV is old enough that it doesn't have HDMI inputs, and the BD player ONLY had HDMI outputs.  So, what did I do?

Asked my boss if I could trade my brand-new Blu-Ray player for the old one at the theater (which was old enough to have standard AV outputs, as well as HDMI).  So, I am once again able to enjoy my movie collection.  (My only complaint is, this player doesn't have a repeat-play function on it.  That's probably for the best, however, as I killed the DVD player prematurely with my tendency to put a disc on repeat and just leave it going for days or even weeks at a time, turning the TV on for background noise.  No longer an option!)

So the month of March has turned out to be pretty rough for me.  I got a $300 ticket, my car broke down, and my youngest needs minor surgery.  And we got more snow.  But through all the stresses Ive encountered I have remained 14 months smoke free  ^_^  YAY ME!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesom...-places-in-the-world

Some gorgeous shots of abandoned sites. WWII fortresses in the English Channel, sunken boats in Antarctica, abandoned hotels on cliffsides in Colombia and sunken Jesus.

In a little over six and a half hours, I will no longer be 44.  Some would ask why this is something to be excited about, but I'll try and elaborate, just a bit...

At an age when a lot of men are starting to exhibit signs of potentially serious health issues, I recently got a clean bill of health from the doctor (after the first visit to a doctor in 25 years).  My blood pressure was marginal, but I'd been in full-on 'production mode' while working on a show (which involved me drinking anywhere from 3-6 cans of caffeinated soda daily), and I was also coming down with what proved to be a pretty nasty cold.

If this pattern holds true, I should still have a few years before I actually hit 'mid-life'...my aunt passed away at age 90, I have an uncle who's still alive and a little past that, on my dad's side of the family.  On my mom's side, my grandpa was in his late 80's or early 90's when he finally said his final goodbyes to the world.

People I went to high school with are starting to look at slowing down and taking it easy, and I feel like I'm finally getting up to speed.  :D  Time is being pretty good to me.

The films of Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli, not to mention Akira Kurosawa.

The designer of School Daze and One Shot is at my house, and we are having crabs for dinner. Yumm ..

I was feeling quite down but hubby cheered me up with a hug and a friend cheered me up with a really dirty joke.

:) I'm really glad to have such wonderful people in my life (occasionally wielding terrible yet funny jokes).
This message was last edited by the user at 01:10, Tue 09 Apr 2013.

Didn't count on a bonus this quarter but we did get one. Yay! :D

My 6 year old was being picked on yesterday morning while getting on the bus for school.  Her big sister turned around and stood up for her telling the bullies to leave her little sister alone.  They sat together on the bus to school, and I got to see with my own eyes the love between them.  I know I raised good girls. :)

Got to experience first-hand the fact that not every tooth removal has to be an excruciating and arduous process.  They spent more time fixing a bad filling (originally done in acrylic, but it started cracking pieces off, so they replaced it with amalgam)...shoot, they spent almost as much time actually getting a good X-ray of the tooth that was coming out.  Glad to have it gone...should have a lot fewer toothaches (and headaches!)

And I was even dollars enough ahead that I could afford to pay for it in one lump, as well as the prescription meds to help with the aftermath.

Holy cow, the dice roller decided to like me for once!