Mi Vida Loca

Mood: Funky (It's been a very funky couple of days around here).

What I'm Watching: Sex and the City (I'm totally into channelling my inner Carrie).

It's been a few days since I've blogged. I'd like to say that I've been too busy but the truth is that I've discovered a new, totally addictive, game and I've been spending all my time trying to build communities and make millions of (obviously fake) dollars in the process.

Anyway...here's the week in review:

Adventures in Travel

Most of you who know Sparky and I know that we are the official poster children for traveler's annonymous. Our honeymoon cruise? Re-routed around two hurricanes (no wonder we got such a good deal...who knew September was right in the middle of hurricane season?). Our trip to Mackinaw City, MI? Who knew that we would end up travelling until 3:00 am because there were absolutely NO hotels with vacancies for literally hundreds of miles as we drove (and we won't even talk about the hotel room we finally ended up with at 3:30 am...suffice it to say that I felt squeamy about it for days afterward). Our trip to Gettysburg? Didn't even happen. Twice. First, Sparky's dad died. Then, Sparky was laid off.

You'd think that we would just avoid tempting fate and stay home where we're safe and cozy. The problem is that, despite our travel issues, we both LOVE to travel. So, when Sparky suggested that we have a weekend getaway last weekend, I was all about going to a place where people will clean and cook for me while I soak in a whirlpool tub while watching tv!

The fact that I had to send my dinner back several times? No big deal. I'm used to it. The fact that it took the cashier at Wal-Mart nearly 45 minutes to ring up a simple sale? We were simply amused and accepted it as par for the course in our travel. However, when the toilet in our hotel room stopped working at 2:30 am? NOT so funny. Especially since I usually need to make a couple of trips to the bathroom in the night.

Sparky (a plumbing pro from having to wrestle with the craptastic plumbing at our apartment) decided that he would go ask for a plunger at the front desk. After 40 minutes he returned without one (the hotel clerk couldn't find one), but with a key to the room across the hall. Now we weren't supposed to change rooms (since ours was a whirlpool room and the one across the hall was not) but we were meant to go across the hall to use the bathroom. That's right. Everytime we needed to use the bathroom during the night, we had to get dressed, grab the keys and head across the hall. I can't tell you how much fun that was.

Thankfully the next day they were able to move us to another room. Yay! The fact that it was on the second floor where there were no vending or ice machines was a minor inconvenience compared to having a toilet that actually functioned. No more going to the outhouse for us!!! Let the relaxation begin! Okay, so the in-room whirlpool tub didn't have the best drain seal and, as a result, would be constantly draining so I had to keep refilling it. Luckily that wasn't as big an issue as one would have supposed because as Sparky walked across the floor to get something, I could actually feel the bottom of the tub shaking. Deciding that I would be extremely pissed off if I ended up falling through the floor, naked sitting in the whirlpool, I didn't soak very long anyway.

Finally we just decided to call it a night and turn in. I was looking forward to sleeping in the next morning since check out time wasn't until noon...unfortunately we were awakened at 7:00 am by the incessent ringing of the hotel fire alarm. Luckily it seemed to be a false alarm but once this was actually confirmed Sparky and I were wide awake and decided that it would be the better part of valor to admit defeat, pack up our things and effect a full scale retreat before the vacation fates had the chance to regroup their offensive forces.

Is it a real Heart Attack or is it Memorex??

In honor of my boss's birthday and administrative assistant's week (since I'm officially an admin. asst. now), a friend decided to take both of us out to lunch today. It was a nice meal with friends, fun, good conversation and laughter. Until I started having chest pains. Crushing, squeezing chest pains. As someone who suffers from panic attacks and anxiety, I first tried to ignore them thinking they were just anxiety symptoms but they didn't go away and eventually I started to start sweating and feeling nauseous. NOT GOOD. Yikes!!

It was finally decided that I needed to go visit the ER and be checked out. Luckily the friend (shout out to Harlin), was willing to drive me out there and wait with me while the medical professionals poked, prodded, tested and x-rayed me within an inch of my life. Luckily all my tests were fine. No heart attack. No stroke. No blood clots. Nothing at all. The best the doctor can say is "who knows". Could have been a spasm, could have been heartburn, could have been anxiety, could have been anything really. The nurse said it could have been a reaction to the Chinese food I'd been eating. He said that some people are sensitive to MSG (I always wondered why there was such hype about MSG) and that the effects of that sensitivity exactly mimic cardiac arrest. Hmmm...No more chinese food for me for a very, very long time.