Not a huge fan...

I don't really like poetry.

Yet, my last post just oozed of "novel poet".

I think my last post sucked. Please ignore.

Cinque Terre

We're in Cinque Terre now. It is so lovely. Filled with sights from another age and country.

The sound of the ocean from my window is loud and soothing. The walls are painted a pale sky blue. The paint doesn't quite touch the ceiling here. It's nice. And the walls are all crooked . There are quilts and lace and small pieces of furniture in our room. This is by far the best place we've stayed.

No cars or traffic. Just people and shops and eager shop keepers and waiters. They bustle and stroll in the drizzle, under the gray blank sky. The umbrellas and rain slickers abound here and they are snapping pictures and darting in and out of shops.

The buoys bob. Any minute they might drown and be hidden by the waves for good and still they look very resilient, like people in life jackets. The sea just looks so gray and irritated. It would swallow up some unsuspecting boat just for some miserable company.
I know I would.

I'm sure this sounds dreary, and maybe it should, it is a dreary day. But , I don't feel dreary, or much of anything. Just sleepy and content.

I like it here.

By the way...

I am finally home but because of the trouble it was to use the computer in Europe, I am posting what I wrote in my journal about our trip.

Dubrovnik

I am taking the day off from touring.

Our laundry is piled up to the point were I'm about to go naked. I'm sitting in our hostel with only my swimming suit and sandals on. Our hostel mate (can't remember his name even though he just told it to me not five minutes ago) is sitting here with Andy and I while we wait for the wash to finish. This trip has been fun and hard and exciting and interesting.

At this point, one week into it, I feel exhausted . Not tired just mentally taxed. I'm ready to just sit by the tiny pool and read for the day. All the driving and walking and white-knuckle moments are really wearing on me.

Also, we've had some problems with the bank. We have money but they keep saying we don't when we can clearly see we do. So calling and straightening out this mess has been sucky. In fact, it makes me want to tear my eyes out. I had a break down last night were I had to just let it all out. I cried a little but mostly I was mad and frustrated with the level of stress we've had to endure. Everything is harder to do here then we expected. Surprise!

But, even considering all the stress and worry it has cost us to get here I wouldn't want to leave. This is definitely more of a journey then a vacation. It's forced me to take a good look at my life and consider what it is I really want and some courses of action I might like to take when I get home.

Split!

Our flight to Zadar was actually on Monday and we thought it was on Sunday. So we stayed at a hotel by the airport, ate really expensive food and took the night off. We had really nice rooms and SHOWERS! Can you tell our showers sucked in London?

So we get to Zadar and get our rental car (but not before the guy charges us 300 extra dollars) and set out for Plitvice National Park. We have a scary hour and some drive to Grabovac where we are staying, but we made it and stayed at the most comfortable room to date. It was actually someone's house. But they rented out two of their rooms. The good thing was we had our own bathroom. Our host fed us breakfast on the patio under the grapevines around nine the next morning with warm milk. I broke a boiled egg that wasn't quite cooked all over my pants. But it was so beautiful there I didn't even care. The park was amazing and the lakes were incredibly blue. We hiked around till four then took off for Split.

The drive to Split was incredible. Everywhere we went there were bombed out houses and buildings. Some were fixed up and some not. They all looked like something you would expect from Italy. It was a lot like home just greener and so vast. If that makes sense. We bought cheese from the side of the road, then decided not to eat it. We saw tanks and old apartments riddled with bullet holes. All and all a lovely trip.

Driving in Split trying to find our place was stressful. Split is a pretty big city. But we did it and found the girl we were renting from and she said she had a flat for us with a cat. So we are with the cat for a couple days. Not that we're there much anyways.

Split is cool in that it is built around the oldest ruins in use in the world. Its basically this giant castle with shops all in it. and it's right on the coast. We did a little tour of it today. amazing. The local cuisine is great and the ice cream is great.

I can't wait to see Dubrovnik. It looks cleaner and cooler.

London!

Ok! I'm here in London and so far everything has been pretty good considering how sick I've been. Today I woke up finally feeling really normal, although, jet lag when your sick is really sucky.

While in the airport I almost fainted, so the rest of my time spent in any airport was time spent in a wheel chair. Ha! It was really nice and I don't think I would have fared well otherwise but a little embarrassing anyways. Don't ask me why.

My first day here I really didn't do anything but eat and sleep so yesterday was my first day of touring. Today we are leaving for Croatia at like 4 so we've got to get in our last bit of fun here. This is really hurried because everyone is waiting on me so I really must go.

We are safe and sound. London is huge and Emily, Scott, and Andy are great travel companions!
Hopefully more on our trip later!

Healthy people shouldn't go to doctors.

This Sunday I got really sick and was throwing up and had diarea, so Monday I called my mom and heard that everyone else was sick. She suggested that I go to the doctor to see if there was anything I could do seeing as I am leaving for Europe this Thursday. So I went in about 7:00pm. was really sick and the doctor said that he'd just give me some IV fluids and some anti-nausea medicine. So, all is going as planned when I start twitching. And not just little twitches, really violent ones. Turns out that I had an "adverse reaction" to the anti-nausea medicine.

So they give me some Benadril to counteract the reaction but all that medicine made me extremely drowsy. I was passing out and having some trouble knowing when I was awake and when I was asleep. Plus, it didn't help with the twitching at all. Basically, I just had to wait until it passed though my system. This all took about three hours.

I go back this morning, on doctors order, to get my IV out and to get more IV fluids.

I am almost done when I starting feeling very short of breath and coughing and generally just having a hard time breathing. Keep in mind that I have not eaten in almost three days at this point.

So, the doctor hooks me up to a heart rate monitor and gets an EKG. The EKG comes out pretty bad so I get a chest X-Ray, which comes out fine. Meanwhile the doctors are baffled as to why my heart rate is so whacked and I am having all these complications when I am 25, and healthy. Well, the doctor sends all my results to an EKG specialist and he said that it was a potassium deficiency. Turns out my potassium levels were far too low. Potassium supposedly is very important for your heart. Who knew. So he gives me some pills and runs a few more tests on my abdomen and finally I get to go home. By this point it is 6:30 and I have been there for five hours.

Yea, if he had just let me eat my sandwich like I asked none of this would have happened. I can't believe that I just spent all day at the doctors. Poor Andy was trying to run errands and do some stuff before our trip while I'm just laying there like a stump. It was really frustrating. Although I was pretty out of it for the most part. Which was good for me at the time but now I have so much to do and no time or energy to do it! Yikes.
Well, it will all get done. And if I have to wear depends to make it on my 12 hour flight this Thursday then so be it. I am going to Europe! And I will be sure to take plenty of bananas with me.

I hate shopping more then anything I can think of!!!

I really really don't like shopping. Most shopping trips end with me having spent 3 hours trying stuff on and not buying anything. And tears accompanied by hot steam shooting directly from my ears.

I have a week before we leave for Europe and no shoes that will do for this trip. You'd think that buying shoes would be easy enough but I cannot do it! Maybe, I am asking too much from a shoe? All I want is a sandal that is really cool and comfortable, that can be dressed up or down, and that is brown. You'd think that this would be easy.

But, I also don't want something too clunky or heavy and I don't want a shoe that looks too comfortable( as in too padded and thick). Help me! I have entered the third dimension of hell! (I don't know what that means but it made me chuckle). No one can save me from this fear and despair, from the dread and regret!

Too dramatic?

Ok, but I would like to find a decent pair of sandals that aren't chaco's.

My pride and joy!

I planted my first garden this year and I is growing like crazy!

This is my first ripe tomato. Well, half of it anyway. I just couldn't wait.


I don't know how to flip these pictures around. Just turn your head or something.

My tomatoes and zucchinies.


Pumpkins that grew wild in our front yard. (We forgot to throw away our pumpkins after Holloween and they somehow got seeds in the ground. They are growing like crazy.)


Jalapenos and red peppers.


More tomatoes!
I am also growing beans and acorn squash and lots of herbs. Yeah for gardens!

Ya know what really chaps my hide?

When people talk about some annoying thing that they have to do for their kids then finish their thought with "You are so lucky you don't have kids."

I really don't agree with this assessment at all. Luck has nothing to do with me not having kids. It's like telling someone "You are so lucky your not a lawyer."I am not lucky that I don't have kids. I am lucky because I don't want kids. Now there's a statement I can agree with.

And just for the record, this is not directed at anyone in particular. I have heard this statement from dozens of people. And no one in particular stirred up my feelings on the subject.




I really souldn't even be saying these types of things on a public board. It seems very unwise.