Has been very interesting. A few weeks ago, Hawaii was placed under a tsunami warning due to a very serious earthquake in Chile. Fortunately this happened on a Saturday. because even though everything downtown was closed and many areas evacuated, it was not complicated by weekday workers cluttering up the sidewalks.
Up here in the highlands, there was no danger and very little notice taken of the proceedings. My greatest annoyance was the siren (in my back yard) that went off at 0600. I have no desire to see 0600 on a Saturday...ever. Seriously, it would take a wave of "Hollywood disaster movie proportions" to get anywhere near me. It would surely screw up off shore deliveries as I'm sure it would damage the docks and the harbor, and I might have to do my cooking and water heating on the Weber for a while, but there was no impact to me this time.
I'm still trying to relearn cooking for 1 person. It's very frustrating for me because I always end up with too much. I'm also too cheap to fire up the Joe, because even if you use a small amount of coal, you'll still be wasting "fire" every time you want to grill up a steak, burger, or salmon side. It's sad.
I'm working on a lovely shawl that took me ages to finally get my head around the pattern, but now, I've got it and the knitting is going very well. In conjunction with this, I have discovered the wonder that is the "safety line" and keep a tapestry needle and some unwaxed dental floss in my "junk" bag.
Soon, I will have another source of yarns for knitting. I've joined the ranks of the spinners (I'm an old spinster now...all I need is a few more cats then I can become the crazy old witch that lives down the street with all the cats). I've got two lovely Golding drop spindles (a light one for fine fibers and a heavier one for heavier wools) and a Kromski Sonata portable spinning wheel (Happy Birthday to me) that I'm learning. Pretty soon it's going to be "full service...knit/crochet, spin, dye. I may have to draw the line at raising the fiber animals. The landlord probably wouldn't appreciate it much and I'm not sure how sheepy/goaty critters would do in the tropics. I would like to add a dying operation when I can find an appropriate place to handle the chemicals.
By the way, I'm currently on the lookout for some nice patio furniture for the back so I can sit out there and enjoy a cuppa or maybe a meal. Read or even spin outside. I've got this lovely weather, I would like to enjoy it!
Found out that our favorite hangout for Monday night knitting had a kitchen fire and is ,more than likely, closed for at least a few weeks. Looks like we'll need to relocate for a bit.
MEDICAL TYPE RANT (tl:dr)
Finally, I got all the planets aligned and got my handicapped placards for the car. It's not so much the getting into the place of business, it's getting out when the shopping's done. It will make getting to work much easier, too. Hopefully I will soon have the local doctors straightened around. They apparently have some misapprehensions about my personal level of knowledge nor can they seem to grasp that when I was in Korea, I was NOT treated by the military and that real live Korean hospitals are different (and unless they speak/read Korean, my medical records (such as they are) will be useless. For instance, the Korean concept of pain management is to ignore it, so I had NO treatment for my back issues. NO physio, no medication, no support. Just one very rude older female doctor who demanded I submit to injections of some mystery substance into my spine (right then, right now...you come with me, get injection now). She flat refused to discuss the contents of the mystery injection, possible aftereffects, side effects, duration, goal (what it was supposed to heal, cure, help)...nothing. For all I knew, it could've been 50cc of Brylcreem, for God's sakes. Needless to say, that was met with a resounding no from me. If you are not willing to discuss the particulars of a treatment with your patient, then you're hiding something and I'm not going to play along with that.
After that kind of medical care and knowing the fact that American Doctors think that everyone who asks for help with the management of severe, chronic pain is only looking for narcotics to either feed their addiction or sell on the street, I don't hold out too much promise for any relief/assistance. Hell, having a qualified massage therapist to work with would help a lot, but I can't seem to get a referral. I mention physical therapy to build up my back and other supporting structures and am ignored. I'm also fully expecting to be labeled as depressed because I have chronic pain. Trust me...I'm anything but depressed. I just keep on, making my days, adapting along the way, so I can still do what I want to do, when I want to do it.
