“You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. Dance as though EVERYBODY is watching. March to the beat of your own drummer. And stubbornly refuse to fit in.”
— Mandy Hale (The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass
My week went well, when I slept with my machine. I truly appreciated the difference it made in my sleep and energy levels.
However, my fat leg was rebelling against my evil regime again. I felt my leg and the rest of my body was warring against each other and then me. By the end of the work day I was struggling to keep myself going. Simple chores, were becoming a never ending struggle.
I had a slight panic attack when my robot stopped working. I had to take the remaining energy I had to try and fix it. Ha!
I cheered myself up by going online to shop. I was like a little kid again deciding what I wanted. I wanted everything and anything! All the things my heart desired and wanted. Yet a part of me felt guilty for trying to buy something that wasn’t practical.
Ugh, shut up Practical Nancy! Fancy Nancy wants all the things!
However, I ended up buying practical things!🙄 like a new robot.
It was a bit frustrating, to spend a few minutes to tidy a day and become exhausted. by the time my robot arrived I was exhausted to even glance at it!
Oh well, I guess I can enjoy relaxing. How much lazier can I get? Better yet how long can I stay still before I get anxious about my apartment being dirty?
I suddenly felt the urge to listen to the ending song to the classic Canadian cartoon: the Raccoons.
1980s Sunday nights were not complete without the Raccoons, Disney and of course Hockey Night in Canada.
You know those days when the sky is so blue it looks like it’s been Photoshopped? That’s been the vibe lately. Chinooks are doing their thing, melting snowbanks and lifting moods like nature’s antidepressant. I am absolutely loving it! The ice? Not so much! I’ve been tip toeing around like I’m in the march of the Penguins!
Monday rolled in, and I was grumpy bear. However I was a little excited, I had received my biPap machine.
I’ll admit, I had questions. Would I sleep? Would my leg behave? Would Daisy, my furry little chaos goblin, try to claw the mask off my face in a fit of midnight confusion?
Spoiler alert: I was a drama queen for nothing.
Night one? I slept like a rock. A very quiet, well-oxygenated rock. I didn’t even move! No tossing or turning. I was dead to the world!
And Daisy? She loved it! She gave me a suspicious side-eye, and spent the night gazing out the window!
I woke up once for a bathroom break and again at 7:45 to take my meds, and fell back asleep like a pro. But when I finally got up to get ready for work? My body staged a full-blown mutiny. I basically became a bathroom fixture. Just… living in there. Existing. Questioning my life choices.
The rest of the day went well.
The second day I felt like I’d been hit by a Mac truck, then rolled over by a second one just for good measure. My body was in a vice grip,
Despite feeling out of sorts, I was in a good mood. belting out hits “Kokomo” by Beach Boys, and “Private Dancer” like I was headlining a Vegas lounge in 1984.
Ari turned around mid-verse, gave me a look that said, “you’re cuckoo for coco puffs!” She asked me how did I know the songs by Tina Turner.
Tina Turner was gorgeous! She had legs! Insured! She didn’t even look her age! Absolutely gorgeous and talented! I was an 80s kid,bro!
Ari and I continued our playlist.
After work, I was exhausted. I was fading like a flower. I barely had enough energy to do a load of laundry and then shower after.
my leg was swollen like a balloon animal. I was thankful it wasn’t huge like before.
and I was convinced my compression sock would laugh in my face.
To my delight, it slid on like butter. I nearly cried. Not from pain. From sheer, unfiltered triumph.
I have the windows open! Enjoying the fresh air! The snow is melting!
I spent the morning looking over Amazon to see what I would like to purchase via my gift card.
Perhaps it’s just me, but I have a sense of guilt if I don’t buy practical stuff for minimal cost. The inner child inside of me really wants to splurge! Buy anything I desire but I don’t need!
Shopping is so difficult!
I gave up and watched kdramas.
I tidied up a bit. However, the smell emanating from the neighbors was making me feel nauseous. my door draft blocker was barely keeping the smell out!
The scent of cloying flowers sprayed to cover the smell of smoke, cat and body odors? Well, it was overwhelming enough to make me reach for the mop, hot water and Lysol.
I washed my walls, doors and the cat litter room.
I really want to find a nice scent for my home. My tolerance for smells is bonkers. As Gwen Stefani once said “My shit is Bananas! B-a-n-a-n-a-s”
If I could I would keep my windows open every day even in -30C!
My brain was rattling around in my skull like a marble in a jar.
I was staring at my bank account wondering where did the money come from.
I forgot it was payday.
Maybe it was because it was Friday and my thoughts were scattered that I was absentminded. It was a miracle that I could even do my job.
I was in a great mood despite the fact my brain refused to work.
I was enjoying myself. The McCafé person couldn’t understand why I didn’t have many relationships.
I was an introvert. I didn’t go out until my graduation year. That was when I started to be able to do things I wanted. Now I’m just a dinosaur with a cat.
The topic of anime came up.
Pamelo fixed me an incredulous stare as I went on about numerous animes, again going down a rabbit hole. Her big mistake was bringing up Sailor Moon.
The poor woman had to listen to me wax nostalgic about the DiC dub and my utter disdain for the Viz Dub and the beauty of Sailor Moon Crystal.
I sighed “the soundtrack to DiC dubbed Sailor Moon was absolutely amazing. The Viz dubbed ruined everything by removing the soundtrack even the perfect moment when Serena found out Darien was Tuxedo Mask.”
GOING DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE:
Truthfully, the DiC Dub (1995–1997) was lighthearted, comedic, and often campy. Heavy censorship: removed violence, LGBTQ+ themes, and death. I did not know Michiru and Haruka were lovers until I read the manga. Wow, mind blown! Dialogue Rewritten for Western sensibilities, often with added slang, Voice Acting North American cast with exaggerated delivery. DiC had awesome soundtrack and sound effects.
I had most of DiC Sailor Moon episodes memorized simply because of emotional damage I suffered.
The Viz dub didn’t have very good voice actors even though they were professional 🤣 yikes! Just recalling Serena’s voice in the Viz dub makes me cringe.
I will admit if I had to choose between Sailor Moon Crystal or Viz? Crystal would win because the anime is visually stunning and faithful to Takeuchi’s vision of her manga. Not to mention the theme song Crystal Pride is great! Sailor Moon Crystal has all of the five series!
I was utterly scandalized when Pamelo told me she never heard the theme song to Sailor Moon. “What? How? Haven’t you heard it?”
“I never watched Sailor Moon or Card Captor” she said.
I gawked. I started singing the Card Captor theme song. Then Sailor moon and Pamelo laughed “why do you still know the songs?”
It’s funny how I can’t remember the important things-like where I put my AirPods, what I walked into the room for, but I can recite entire verses of 80s ballads and quote movie lines like I’m auditioning for a reboot.
The other day, I was in second booth with Pamelo, singing songs, quoting movies, laughing until we couldn’t breathe.
we fell into one of my favorite rabbit holes: pop culture.
Someone mentions music or movies around me, it’s over. I’m going down that rabbit hole and never coming out!
My eyes lit up. That was it. The gateway. I took a deep breath and launched into a passionate monologue about Newlyweds, the reality TV masterpiece starring Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. My favorite moment? Jessica, in all her glory, asking if “Chicken of the Sea” was chicken or tuna. And then, “Do buffalo really have wings?” Iconic. Comedic genius!
Naturally, this led to a discussion of their duet “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin. Classic Jess and Nick. But then Pamelo started singing “Angels,” and I sighed, “Oh, the time Taylor Swift sang this with Robbie Williams at Wembley, I cried.”
Pamelo blinked. “What?! No, Jessica Simpson sang it!”
I stared at her. “Bro. Robbie Williams sang it first. Taylor invited him on stage during her Reputation tour. Wembley. It was awesome!”
We broke into song, belting out “Angels” Mid-verse, Pamelo started coughing.
“I need to see a doctor,” she wheezed.
Cue my White Chicks reflex: “Dr. Dre,” I giggled. “Your mom is so stupid, she went to Dr. Dre for a Pap smear!”
Pamelo burst out laughing. “Really, Becky? I love that movie!” She cleared her throat and fired back: “Your mom is so stupid, she exercised when she could’ve had liposuction.”
“Oh, you wanna talk about mothers? You want to talk about mothers?!” I grinned. “Your mom is so old, her breast milk is powder!”
We were in stitches. Our manager gave us that look- the one that says “I’m trying to be patient, but you need to shut the hell up!”
We pretended to work, but Pamelo couldn’t help herself. She broke into “Untouched” by The Veronicas, and I joined in without missing a beat.
Then came the final song: “Almost Paradise” by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson.
Pamelo turned to me, eyes wide. “Becky! You know almost every song I have been singing! How do you know that song?!”
I rolled my eyes. “Were you even born when Footloose came out? I don’t think so. Almost Paradise,” I sighed, not one of my favorites from the soundtrack.
I ordered Korean fried chicken and Tteokbokki for dinner. It was really enjoyable. I used the meager GST check I received to splurge 🤣
It wasn’t a half hour until the rumble bum began and I barely made it to the bathroom.
What a disaster!
Although I did enjoy a nice hot 20 minute shower after.
I got my pjs on and planned to go to bed early but something compelled me to look outside the living room windows. There was poor fluffy begging to be let in.
I opened the door to let Fluffy in. Poor boy could barely meow.
After feeding him and getting him situated I went to bed early.
I am so happy I have a doctor appointment today.
I was feeling out of sorts lately and last night it flared up again.
I felt cold even though the thermostat said 22! I usually have the temperature at a comfy 20C.
Last night I was so cold and weak.
I felt fine other than that.
I finally had to turn off the bedroom heater because even though I felt cold I was still roasting!
I took my temperature twice! 32C or 33C. I stared at the thermometer in confusion. Was it broken.
I was in a deep sleep finally when I woke up to fluffy vomiting. I heard that noise over the podcast!
Ew!
Now I have to clean and disinfect the apartment! Why?!
I’m going to go back to sleep hopefully the day goes well!😬☺️
To be honest I am not a big fan of Stranger Things. I have watched snippets and it is ok, just not my cup of tea.
Joe Keery plays Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. He actually became an actor because of his sister Caroline “enter Caroline you will be fine”
She encouraged him to act.
I came across this song by accident a few days ago, and I thought “how odd, I thought I heard this song before” I did on TikTok. However, I didn’t know it was Joe Keery who sang it ☺️
Columbia Music: Columbia House was a hugely popular mail-order music club that let people buy records, tapes, and later CDs—often with irresistible deals like “12 albums for a penny.” I bought so many of my CDs
Double Day book club: The Doubleday Book Club was a popular mail-order book club that offered discounted books—often with enticing introductory deals like “4 books for 99¢”—in exchange for a commitment to purchase more books over time. The books in my personal library were bought from Double Day! Ack almost went into debt! But I loved Double Day!☺️💕 I miss my library
Blockbuster: movie nights were so much fun when we would rent a movie and buy a pizza! Games for the SNES!
California kickball! Summer days playing in the field with the neighborhood kids. Best friends drinking slushies and kicking the ball around!
The Mica mines. The storm trenches near the train trestle close to the city limits was quite a bike ride. It was fun. We would find mica (but now we found out it was selenite) what a treasure!
Bonfires! Telling scary stories and eating roasted marshmallows were the best nights ever!
Scratching chin. Attending college? Back in the Stone Age.
Ah yes. Back then I had many ideas of what I wanted to become. Zoologist, forensic pathologist for example. but my sciences were horrible. I couldn’t comprehend formulas, my maths weren’t mathing.
It was towards the end of my senior year that I finally decided that I wanted to become a pastor. Oh yes, I wanted to go to the Bible college in the next province over and study.
It didn’t help that the school district lost our Provincial Exams. Without those we couldn’t graduate. They passed us, but it messed with our transcripts.
I attended a college online for fun. The course was about Astrology, palmistry, I- Ching, tarot.
I enjoyed it. I just did it to pass the time away. however a natal chart is nothing to laugh about! It’s hard to make!
I think the total amount of days worked in December was around 10.
Trying to get my shit together? Is just not happening! I think my brain is refusing to process anything more!
I was grateful it was slow and drive thru wasn’t a mess. I didn’t think I could multitask thinking and order taking 🤪🤣
i was just happy I didn’t feel tired or my leg wasn’t bothering me.
I must be getting old because I couldn’t hear a single order. The diesel trucks, the noise outside and perhaps the speakers were freezing over from all the snow. Where was my hearing aids?! It was just ridiculous!
I was on my best behavior. I was so nice to the customers. 🤢🤮
While I was on break, I received a notification from my insurance company informing me that a claim for my BiPap machine wasn’t approved but the authorization was. I was staring at the email for the longest time, trying to figure out what the issue was. I finally asked my boss what did it mean.
She said the claim was approved.
She also had good news for me. A slight distraction. She was giving me a $1200 budget for my anniversary gift but unfortunately I couldn’t receive it as money. She started listing ideas.
“Amazon gift cards?” I asked.
“Yes”
My eyes lit up at the possibility!
I was so excited! A little bit wary, because the Amazon delivery service has been severely lacking up here.
After I got home, I was very anxious about the insurance situation. Not only was I anxious about it, I realized that if it wasn’t properly covered, I would have to wait once more for the claim to be filed and approved. I had an appointment with the respiratory supply company to get my machine measurements on Monday.
I re-read the email and the claims. I wanted to scream. The claims were submitted under pre-authorization. I couldn’t believe it!
I quickly resubmitted the claim.
Just like wow!
How have I been able to function this long without barely any brain cells.
A GIRL OUT OF THE ORDINARY 