Too much thinking.
It’s been quite a hectic week here in my skull. How are all you lovely people out there? Good? Great!
I’ve been trying to plan a local-area relocation, which in our case is far more complicated than it should ever be for anyone, even HITLER. R. and I always have a bit of an adventure, as between us we have a mindboggling lists of Must-Haves and Must-Not-Haves for a new apartment, everything from a big kitchen to no wool carpet to being at least a mile from the freeway (note to out-of-towners: we have A LOT of freeways) to having a guarantee that there have never been pets in the unit (allergies) to being in an urban neighborhood where you can walk to stuff… and can that all be within our budget, please?
Because W. is 4, we have to add to the mix: Is there a decent preschool we can afford that has an immediate opening, and is the school district decent because oh my lord I don’t want to move again in a year?
I looked up the symptoms of fibromyalgia recently, and one that made me laugh (chronic pain gives you a weird sense of humor) was “inability to multitask.” Funny because: yes, exactly, but it never occurred to me that was a symptom of anything. I should be specific here: under normal circumstances, I am a genius multitasker, the person who can be given 20 tasks and 20 deadlines and keep your company together by also remembering all the stuff you forgot that wasn’t even my job. So inability to multitask, for me, might mean I’m working at a normal-people level (I’m not really sure, I haven’t done a focus group on it or anything). My point – there is one, and related to the paragraphs before even! – is that this process is apparently one higher than the number of tasks I can handle. Because if you’ve ever watched an engine struggle to spark and then die? I have that exact feeling in my head.
So hey, it’s a good thing I have some things to do this weekend! Saturday night, my friend Michele and I are going to the Greg Proops Chat Show at Largo. This monthly live talk show is pretty much my favorite thing happening in Los Angeles, and yes, I say that with the full awareness that 50 amazing things are happening within the city limits at any given time. There’s comedy, music, and of course, chat; the guests that have been announced so far for Saturday are Margaret Cho and Andy Richter. I know, pretty cool, huh?
For years now, I have had a secret dream: to leave and return to Largo within 12 hours. That weirdly specific fantasy will become reality on Sunday, for the venue is presenting its first children’s concert at 11am, and lucky for me I have a child. The groundbreaking artist in question will be Justin Roberts, who my kid likes, which puts him on a list of maybe 4-5 children’s recording artists, because my boy, he likes the big people’s music (so far, anyway). Those people usually play past his bedtime. Or are dead. Anyway, I’m not hugely familiar with Mr. Roberts’ oeuvre, but I have liked what I’ve heard, and kids’ music tends to separate into good and evil pretty quickly.
I’m hoping this leads to more family shows; until now, McCabe’s has been the best bet in town, but I think – while I don’t want to endorse a series that doesn’t technically exist yet – Largo would be better. For one thing, although I’m quite certain nobody has ever gone to Largo purely out of a desire to sit in their comfy, comfy chairs, they’re still a few steps up from McCabe’s folding jobbies; I am old and broken-down and this matters to me. But not as much as this: McCabe’s books some seriously great people, but if you see a kids’ show with an artist you’ve never heard of, you can’t really go confident that they’ll be great too. I learned this lesson up close, and quite frankly I still don’t want to talk about it. I really, really, really don’t think a Largo series would be like that. So bring your kids if you’ve got ‘em, because this could be the start of something really cool.
Wouldn’t it be great if the next time I posted I’d found an apartment and moved and gotten the kid in school stuff ? Like, in 3 days? Yeah, I don’t think it’ll happen either. Wish me luck!
D5 Creation
Margaret Cho and Andy Richter? Proops is the gift that keeps on giving!
Seriously!
By the way, I installed an extension that automatically links any term it knows the link for, thinking it would be an antidote for my laziness, but seeing it in action here I think I’m getting rid of it. I apologize for the weird fake-marketing look of this post!
Best of luck!
An apartment where pets have NEVER lived? That’s some seriously fine-grained spectral analysis your allergies are doing.
Indeed, I did exaggerate. Apparently anything over 10 years is OK. And just for the record, it’s not *my* allergies in question on that one; I can and have slept with my entire head and torso covered in cats.
My real estate agent says Ivanhoe is his favorite school district in the LAUSD. So Silverlake? Otherwise, I would look into bungalows or small complexes in Eagle Rock. Close to 2, 5, 134, 210, 110 Fwys. ER schools are supposed to be better than adjacent affordable neighborhoods. Colorado St. in ER is nice to walk to supposing these businesses can sustain economic collapse! There are plenty of preschools in Glendale or Pasadena if the Eagle Rock/Highland Park options are unsatisfactory. Also, I don’t know much about it but So. Pas. is adorable with some decent gold line access. It just seemed too far from LA proper to me. I settled in Highland Park. I drive to Spaceland in 15-20 min, Amoeba in 20-30, & Largo in 30-40. Sorry I didn’t properly intro myself, I have been on various music lists with you through the years but I keep a low profile online. I check in with your smart writing & excellent taste periodically. This new blog looks great & reads well of course! Good luck!
Thanks, Lexy, for both the nice words and the advice! Silverlake is a possibility… I’ve totally slacked on this project as I realized that with my husband in Chicago I’d have to do the whole thing myself (I mean, I knew this, but it hadn’t sunk in) and I’m not really sure I’m feeling up to it now. But I will definitely keep all this in mind!
Yeah, I would prefer to live in Silverlake myself but when I bought I couldn’t afford any real estate there. Lots more flexibility with renting. If you decide to check out Eagle Rock, Fatty’s on Colorado has a big vegan menu and I’ve had only nice experiences there, though yelpers mileage vary of course.
And I didn’t want to offer so much advice to a stranger in one day but I am a nurse and sorry to hear you are dealing with fibromyalgia. Look into Magnesium supplements, and maybe even Cymbalta. Though I know it can be an unsettling idea to try chemicals but I know it’s helping a lot of women. As far as Magnesium, watch for stomach oogyness but no other side effects really. I only like to take it at night because it makes me very relaxed. I started taking it because of kidney stones and realized my whole body was less achey. Lately I’ve heard our pain mgt. MDs at work recommending Magnesium, so I guess I was onto something!
Okay, sorry, ha! Take care and Best!
Oh, are you kidding? I love advice – I’ve got a lot of crap going on these days! I’ve been through Lyrica and Cymbalta and had really violent side effects coupled with zero intended effects (which I guess is better than if they HAD worked and had violent side effects) – also up the whole opoid scale and the effect there was much the same as if I’d had a small cup of water – nada. I do take a multi that’s got a good amount of magnesium but I don’t supplement separately – how much should I be taking?
Thanks!
I haven’t been back in a while, oops! Sorry! On Magnesium, I would look for something that has about 500mg per tab and just take one. I imagine the max oral dose would be 2000mg per day, divided doses, but like I said, it can induce tummy trouble so I’d just start with one daily. I have given up to 4000mg IV over a couple of hours to someone with low lab levels, just to give you an idea of the range.
Something else I’ve been doing that’s really helped with keeping my feet from getting sore is putting cayenne pepper in my work shoes. It really works, one of my patients told me about it. I buy it super cheap at the mexican markets. My work socks are gross but I don’t care. Maybe you could read about the capsaicin creams and find some on the cheap somewhere online. I also wear really good shoes at work, Taryn Rose designer. I buy them used on Ebay but between the shoes and the pepper, I no longer have issues with shin splints or sore feet. Dr. Taryn Rose was born with congential foot problems, became a foot surgeon, (she did her residency at my hospital!), and ultimately a fancy famous comfortable shoe designer.
I hope someone didn’t start you on Lyrica and Cymbalta at the same time, that’s a lot of crazy chemicals for a naive person. I was thinking Cymbalta alone would be best and didn’t suggest something like Lyrica because of the side effects. I haven’t heard of much bad reaction to Cymbalta so that’s a shame. Lyrica and Neurontin both (same type of med) do have pretty major side effects for many, mainly excessive sedation and hallucinations, so for someone naive I would say to only take one dose at bedtime and start at lowest and give the body time to adjust chemically.
Yeah, I’d avoid the opiods for sure. I think they are helpful in acute situations, not good for chronic management. And having high opiod tolerance means your pain receptors are SCREWED and when you have surgeries or acute pain situations its extremely difficult to get any relief. Plus, the opioid physical dependence thing is serious and happens so easily, then addictive behavior can start in and of course, that’s a bad scene. People with Fibromyalgia tend to have terrible pain receptors from the disease anyway but I still would keep away from the opiods.
Well, hope you can try some magnesium, capsaicin, and other more holistic treatments. I haven’t researched it myself but hopefully there are some good options…like diet restrictions/inclusions, doing things that play with endorphin/dopamine levels in your body, etc. I am a big believer in holistic treatments, hopefully there is some recipe for living that will suit your body. I wish you the best! If I think of anything else I will get back to you!
Lexy
Hey, I haven’t been here in a while either, and clearly I have less excuse than you do. Thanks for all the info – no, I was on Cymbalta and Lyrica at different times, thank goodness!
The foot problem is, largely, that my feet are completely freakishly shaped – I’m a 6xw, which barely exists even before you take the absurdly high instep and arch into account (and the arch is also located where you’d expect a size 7 to be). The only shoes I can even get my feet into, with required huge orthotics, are a few styles from a New Zealand company called Kumfs, and even those don’t really fit right.
I had heard about the pepper solution, but only as a remedy for standard on-your-feet-all-day pain (which I never get because I can’t be on my feet long); it didn’t occur to me that it might work for my sudden-snap-followed-by-pain-so-severe-you-can’t-take-another-step affliction. Will definitely investigate though – thanks for all your advice!