I just looked up the weather online and found out it's 81 degrees out there! No wonder I'm practically melting in my long dark jeans and half-sleeve shirt. The mornings are so cool these days, but the afternoons are just as summer-y as ever!
I was going to blog the second half of my California trip today, but while I was at work, Art emailed me and asked me out on a date. :) He suggested a sunset stroll downtown, near the water. After I dissolved into a puddle of mush because he still makes me giddy and starry-eyed, I replied that I would love to go for a walk!
So that's what I'm doing this evening. And before he gets home, I'm going to tackle yet another pile of dishes. Right after I change into a swimsuit or something, because man alive! It's so warm!
September 22, 2009
September 21, 2009
Cali Trip: The First Half
As promised, here follows an account of our California trip.
Day 0.5, Sunday: Yes, day zero-point-five. Art's parents picked us up at 5:30 pm, and we were leaving our driveway by 6pm. AS SOON AS we started driving, the antics started. Art and I claimed the back bench, and Mari and Joe had the seats in front of us. Art's spot in the van provided many an opportunity to stick his feet in his siblings' faces. And when opportunity knocked, he answered. We hadn't even left Bellingham yet, and I was already wondering if "we were there yet."
Mari and Joe were annoyed, but also amused. All three of them had dissolved into side-splitting laughter before too long. I realized that was the first moment I had seen Art laugh so hard that he cried. I wish I had caught it on camera, but my mind's eye will do just fine.
We drove straight to California, only stopping at rest stops to use the bathroom (which I made sure I did at every one. I did not want to be the one begging to stop because I had to pee).
Driving straight through the night was like mini-torture for me. It's too dark to see anything, I'm too tired to read, but too uncomfortable to sleep. Art spent much of the trip with his legs across my lap, which I let him do as often as possible, since he's much bigger than me. But eventually it got to be too much. I was very glad when I saw the sun coming up, because that meant that I didn't have to pretend to sleep anymore.
Day 1, Monday: We got to great-grandma's house in Fresno at 11am. She is 95, but besides the walker, she doesn't look it at all. Her house was surprisingly large for just one person to live in, but those two extra bedrooms were our salvation. If all six of us had slept in the same general space every night of our vacation, we would have been a pretty grumpy group.
This day was spent relaxing, obviously, since we had just spent 16 hours in a van. We did some grocery shopping so that we wouldn't be eating grandma's food, and we ordered KFC so nobody had to cook.
Later on that evening, we went to Art's dad's stepdad's place to watch some football. Well, the guys watched football. I read. And tried to stay far away from their wiener dog, who got so excited that she kept peeing everywhere. Mari and I played a little Jenga, and we got a cool video of me making the tower fall over.
Day 2, Tuesday: Art's dad (I'm just going to call them David and Sally from now on) wanted to find a few graves of relatives. We paid a visit to great-grandpa's grave, but didn't find the other ones, and eventually abandoned our quest. David took us to the Fresno zoo instead. I have only ever been to the Winnipeg Zoo, and no offense to Winnipeg, but this zoo is much cooler. The highlight of the zoo (besides the giant parrots, and pacing tiger, and girraffes, and playing elephants, and giant turtles, and swinging monkeys)? Seeing a goat chase Art because Art had paper in his back pocket, and the goat wanted a piece of it. And got it.
On the way back, we went to In-N-Out burger, which is a must if you're going to California. I have been to one before, in San Francisco, but I never got a picture of my first In-N-Out experience, so we got a picture of this one.
We stopped off at David's former sister-in-law's (David's late wife's sister. David was married once before, she died, he met Sally in the Philippines, they had a family, and here we are). We ended up staying there until quite late, playing card games with the cousins while the parents got caught up.
Day 3, Wednesday: Probably my least favorite day. We went the Navy Base in Lemoore to pick up Magic Mountain tickets at a sweet military discount, had a fantastic lunch there, but then I spent a long afternoon in an arcade/gym/rec room watching everyone else play games while I just wanted to nap.
This was my first opportunity to get on the internet, which occupied me for a little while, but I was just so sleepy! (Remember how I said I basically didn't get one night of decent sleep on our whole vacation?) We thought we might get to go swimming on the base, which I was looking forward do since it's so hot there, but only those with a military ID are allowed. I clearly don't have one of those.
When David and Sally got back from where ever they had gone, we went to the navy exchange to do some "shopping" and then finally made the trip back to great-grandma's in Fresno. She went to bed not long after we got home, and the guys wanted to watch a movie. I think I made it halfway through, but I was so hot and tired and cranky that I just went to bed.
Day 4, Thursday: We went west to Salinas. For those who don't know, Fresno is in a valley, which means it's very hot. Going to Salinas meant going "over/through" the mountains, and there, it is much more temperate, since they get a nice ocean breeze. (See Map.) We visited with one of David's many cousins for a while, and then met my former college roommate, her husband, and their year-old baby for dinner. I hadn't seen her since I was a bridesmaid in her wedding three years ago, so we basically ignored the people we were with so we could chat more. I don't even remember eating!
I miss her. She was a godsend as a roommate, and we connected so well. We haven't really kept up that connection as well as I would have liked, but we were like old friends as soon as we saw each other.
That night we stayed in a motel, and then it was off to Monteray and the ocean! Which I'll save for the next post.
I've included a very official map for your assistance, in case you nothing of the layout of California (which I didn't until I made this just now).
Day 0.5, Sunday: Yes, day zero-point-five. Art's parents picked us up at 5:30 pm, and we were leaving our driveway by 6pm. AS SOON AS we started driving, the antics started. Art and I claimed the back bench, and Mari and Joe had the seats in front of us. Art's spot in the van provided many an opportunity to stick his feet in his siblings' faces. And when opportunity knocked, he answered. We hadn't even left Bellingham yet, and I was already wondering if "we were there yet."
Mari and Joe were annoyed, but also amused. All three of them had dissolved into side-splitting laughter before too long. I realized that was the first moment I had seen Art laugh so hard that he cried. I wish I had caught it on camera, but my mind's eye will do just fine.
We drove straight to California, only stopping at rest stops to use the bathroom (which I made sure I did at every one. I did not want to be the one begging to stop because I had to pee).
Driving straight through the night was like mini-torture for me. It's too dark to see anything, I'm too tired to read, but too uncomfortable to sleep. Art spent much of the trip with his legs across my lap, which I let him do as often as possible, since he's much bigger than me. But eventually it got to be too much. I was very glad when I saw the sun coming up, because that meant that I didn't have to pretend to sleep anymore.
Day 1, Monday: We got to great-grandma's house in Fresno at 11am. She is 95, but besides the walker, she doesn't look it at all. Her house was surprisingly large for just one person to live in, but those two extra bedrooms were our salvation. If all six of us had slept in the same general space every night of our vacation, we would have been a pretty grumpy group.
This day was spent relaxing, obviously, since we had just spent 16 hours in a van. We did some grocery shopping so that we wouldn't be eating grandma's food, and we ordered KFC so nobody had to cook.
Later on that evening, we went to Art's dad's stepdad's place to watch some football. Well, the guys watched football. I read. And tried to stay far away from their wiener dog, who got so excited that she kept peeing everywhere. Mari and I played a little Jenga, and we got a cool video of me making the tower fall over.
Day 2, Tuesday: Art's dad (I'm just going to call them David and Sally from now on) wanted to find a few graves of relatives. We paid a visit to great-grandpa's grave, but didn't find the other ones, and eventually abandoned our quest. David took us to the Fresno zoo instead. I have only ever been to the Winnipeg Zoo, and no offense to Winnipeg, but this zoo is much cooler. The highlight of the zoo (besides the giant parrots, and pacing tiger, and girraffes, and playing elephants, and giant turtles, and swinging monkeys)? Seeing a goat chase Art because Art had paper in his back pocket, and the goat wanted a piece of it. And got it.
On the way back, we went to In-N-Out burger, which is a must if you're going to California. I have been to one before, in San Francisco, but I never got a picture of my first In-N-Out experience, so we got a picture of this one.
We stopped off at David's former sister-in-law's (David's late wife's sister. David was married once before, she died, he met Sally in the Philippines, they had a family, and here we are). We ended up staying there until quite late, playing card games with the cousins while the parents got caught up.
Day 3, Wednesday: Probably my least favorite day. We went the Navy Base in Lemoore to pick up Magic Mountain tickets at a sweet military discount, had a fantastic lunch there, but then I spent a long afternoon in an arcade/gym/rec room watching everyone else play games while I just wanted to nap.
This was my first opportunity to get on the internet, which occupied me for a little while, but I was just so sleepy! (Remember how I said I basically didn't get one night of decent sleep on our whole vacation?) We thought we might get to go swimming on the base, which I was looking forward do since it's so hot there, but only those with a military ID are allowed. I clearly don't have one of those.
When David and Sally got back from where ever they had gone, we went to the navy exchange to do some "shopping" and then finally made the trip back to great-grandma's in Fresno. She went to bed not long after we got home, and the guys wanted to watch a movie. I think I made it halfway through, but I was so hot and tired and cranky that I just went to bed.
Day 4, Thursday: We went west to Salinas. For those who don't know, Fresno is in a valley, which means it's very hot. Going to Salinas meant going "over/through" the mountains, and there, it is much more temperate, since they get a nice ocean breeze. (See Map.) We visited with one of David's many cousins for a while, and then met my former college roommate, her husband, and their year-old baby for dinner. I hadn't seen her since I was a bridesmaid in her wedding three years ago, so we basically ignored the people we were with so we could chat more. I don't even remember eating!
I miss her. She was a godsend as a roommate, and we connected so well. We haven't really kept up that connection as well as I would have liked, but we were like old friends as soon as we saw each other.
That night we stayed in a motel, and then it was off to Monteray and the ocean! Which I'll save for the next post.
I've included a very official map for your assistance, in case you nothing of the layout of California (which I didn't until I made this just now).
September 18, 2009
Old Anger Revisited
**Update: I have included one more link at the bottom of this post, to a website where you can sign a petition asking the government to continue to investigate the risks of the Gardasil vaccine.**
In June 2008 I blogged about the Gardasil vaccine. I tried to find it so I could link it, just in case anyone wanted to read it. Then I remembered that I deleted it. That post stirred up a lot of controversy, so I removed it. But now I've got it on the brain again, so I'm going to blog about it again.
I'll summarize my experience as best I can:
As a part of the immigration process, I needed to have a medical exam done, to prove that I was healthy enough to enter into the States. They wanted to know that I wasn't going to pass on anything dangerous to the current citizens and residents. They also wanted to make sure I wasn't just moving to America to take advantage of the hospitals and health care, with no intention of paying for it.
Included in the "We hope you don't pass on any diseases" policy, I had to submit my vaccine records, to make sure I had all the necessary vaccines. A brand new law, that was just introduced that year, was that any immigrating females between 18-26 had to have the Gardasil vaccine, which prevents the HPV virus, which is one cause of cervical cancer. I HAD to receive the vaccine.
I remember seeing commercials for it, and I thought it was a choice. But not for me. So I shelled out an extra $100 or something ridiculous like that, and I got the vaccine, because I wanted to get into America. Before the doctor administered it, I asked him if there were any side effects. He said there were none.
So I got a vaccine I didn't want, for a virus I would never contract, because I had never had sex, and when I did have sex, it was with a man who had never had sex with anyone before me. I understand that the US government has to take precautions, but I hate that in this day and age, they assume that every young female (and male) might be sexually promiscuous, or has unsafe sex (which is the only way to contract and pass on the virus that Gardasil prevents).
After I got home that day, I did some research on the vaccine, since I didn't know anything about it. What I found horrified and enraged me.
- 1 in every 1855 Gardasil shots is followed by a negative health experience. The most common complaint is fainting and seizures, within a few minutes to a few hours after having the vaccine. There have been thousands of these cases.
- Other side effects include blood clots in the brain and lungs, causing stroke, brain swelling and paralysis. 4 girls died after a lung blood clot, 4 more in a car accident when they passed out while driving after they got the vaccine. To date, there have been 43 Gardasil-related deaths.
I asked the doctor if there were any known side-effects, any risks. And he said NO. I could have been one of those girls, and I didn't have a CHOICE.
Now, many doctors, scientists and government officials have chalked these up to coincidences. That may be true for some, but it can't be for all.
And no matter how many statistics I quote, the undisputed fact is that the long-term effects and effectiveness of the vaccine is still unknown, and yet they are trying to make it mandatory for girls as young as nine years old. There are so many unknown risks, that it doesn't seem worth it.
Here are a few more things you should know, not about the vaccine, but about the virus it prevents.
The virus is preventable through safe and smart sexual choices. It's interesting that so many people think that it's unrealistic to teach teens that abstinence is the best protection against sexually transmitted diseases. But if people opted for abstinence, then we wouldn't have this outrage against this vaccine, because we wouldn't need the vaccine.
Second, HPV can be detected through regular check-ups, which are recommended whether the vaccine has been administrated or not.
Third, a person can rid themselves of the HPV virus by adhering to a healthy diet.
So let me get this straight: a dangerous vaccine is being pushed on every young teen in America for a virus that can be detected, prevented, and healed by other means.
Now, I'm not downplaying the experiences of women who have had cervical cancer, and the pain of losing loved a one who has died from cervical cancer. But that still doesn't justify mass producing and administering a vaccine that has so many risks.
But you don't have to believe what I say. You can read this upsetting article from Maclean's, and it's already two years old.
You can read this more recent article from the Center of Disease Control.
You can watch this informative and well-researched video on YouTube, about the Gardasil vaccine, as well as the new flu vaccine.
And then there is this video, a personal account of a girl who was severely affected after receiving Gardasil.
Please click here to sign a petition asking the President and Congress to investigate the Gardasil vaccine risks.
I was mad about this more than a year ago (and I'm still mad), when I first discovered what could have happened to me, and what has happened to so many other girls, who had a choice and weren't told the risks. I didn't have a choice, I asked about the risks, and I was told there were none. Either the doctor was lying, or he didn't know the truth. Neither of these is acceptable.
You can choose the vaccine. You can choose a lifestyle where you won't need the vaccine. You can choose to believe me. You can choose to attack me for what I'm saying. But please choose to be informed about this.
In June 2008 I blogged about the Gardasil vaccine. I tried to find it so I could link it, just in case anyone wanted to read it. Then I remembered that I deleted it. That post stirred up a lot of controversy, so I removed it. But now I've got it on the brain again, so I'm going to blog about it again.
I'll summarize my experience as best I can:
As a part of the immigration process, I needed to have a medical exam done, to prove that I was healthy enough to enter into the States. They wanted to know that I wasn't going to pass on anything dangerous to the current citizens and residents. They also wanted to make sure I wasn't just moving to America to take advantage of the hospitals and health care, with no intention of paying for it.
Included in the "We hope you don't pass on any diseases" policy, I had to submit my vaccine records, to make sure I had all the necessary vaccines. A brand new law, that was just introduced that year, was that any immigrating females between 18-26 had to have the Gardasil vaccine, which prevents the HPV virus, which is one cause of cervical cancer. I HAD to receive the vaccine.
I remember seeing commercials for it, and I thought it was a choice. But not for me. So I shelled out an extra $100 or something ridiculous like that, and I got the vaccine, because I wanted to get into America. Before the doctor administered it, I asked him if there were any side effects. He said there were none.
So I got a vaccine I didn't want, for a virus I would never contract, because I had never had sex, and when I did have sex, it was with a man who had never had sex with anyone before me. I understand that the US government has to take precautions, but I hate that in this day and age, they assume that every young female (and male) might be sexually promiscuous, or has unsafe sex (which is the only way to contract and pass on the virus that Gardasil prevents).
After I got home that day, I did some research on the vaccine, since I didn't know anything about it. What I found horrified and enraged me.
- 1 in every 1855 Gardasil shots is followed by a negative health experience. The most common complaint is fainting and seizures, within a few minutes to a few hours after having the vaccine. There have been thousands of these cases.
- Other side effects include blood clots in the brain and lungs, causing stroke, brain swelling and paralysis. 4 girls died after a lung blood clot, 4 more in a car accident when they passed out while driving after they got the vaccine. To date, there have been 43 Gardasil-related deaths.
I asked the doctor if there were any known side-effects, any risks. And he said NO. I could have been one of those girls, and I didn't have a CHOICE.
Now, many doctors, scientists and government officials have chalked these up to coincidences. That may be true for some, but it can't be for all.
And no matter how many statistics I quote, the undisputed fact is that the long-term effects and effectiveness of the vaccine is still unknown, and yet they are trying to make it mandatory for girls as young as nine years old. There are so many unknown risks, that it doesn't seem worth it.
Here are a few more things you should know, not about the vaccine, but about the virus it prevents.
The virus is preventable through safe and smart sexual choices. It's interesting that so many people think that it's unrealistic to teach teens that abstinence is the best protection against sexually transmitted diseases. But if people opted for abstinence, then we wouldn't have this outrage against this vaccine, because we wouldn't need the vaccine.
Second, HPV can be detected through regular check-ups, which are recommended whether the vaccine has been administrated or not.
Third, a person can rid themselves of the HPV virus by adhering to a healthy diet.
So let me get this straight: a dangerous vaccine is being pushed on every young teen in America for a virus that can be detected, prevented, and healed by other means.
Now, I'm not downplaying the experiences of women who have had cervical cancer, and the pain of losing loved a one who has died from cervical cancer. But that still doesn't justify mass producing and administering a vaccine that has so many risks.
But you don't have to believe what I say. You can read this upsetting article from Maclean's, and it's already two years old.
You can read this more recent article from the Center of Disease Control.
You can watch this informative and well-researched video on YouTube, about the Gardasil vaccine, as well as the new flu vaccine.
And then there is this video, a personal account of a girl who was severely affected after receiving Gardasil.
Please click here to sign a petition asking the President and Congress to investigate the Gardasil vaccine risks.
I was mad about this more than a year ago (and I'm still mad), when I first discovered what could have happened to me, and what has happened to so many other girls, who had a choice and weren't told the risks. I didn't have a choice, I asked about the risks, and I was told there were none. Either the doctor was lying, or he didn't know the truth. Neither of these is acceptable.
You can choose the vaccine. You can choose a lifestyle where you won't need the vaccine. You can choose to believe me. You can choose to attack me for what I'm saying. But please choose to be informed about this.
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