Strange Pulse

I started on the insulin pump yesterday. So far it’s gone good–my blood sugars have been great. Except I got up at 3am to test and check how it’s going overnight, and I was really high. I’m not sure if it’s from the pizza I had for dinner, or if I’ll need to adjust my nighttime settings. I’ll have to get up and test at 3am for the next couple nights to find out.

It’s weird, being connected to a machine, and knowing I’ll need to be connected to it for the rest of my life. It’s different with injections. I mean, it’s still weird, being so completely dependent on medication (if you can call insulin that). But having it permanently connected to you is different.

Anyway, I’m excited about it. All I have to do is tell it how many grams of carbs I’m eating, and it does the rest.

I’ll try to take some pictures sometime and post them.

Tom’s got one with some interesting posts about music and movies:

Imaginary Brazilian Revolution

There’s a cool guy in Utah:

Feature Writing and Rambling

A new blog focusing on LDS actors/filmmakers/musicians/etc:

LDS Film & Media News

Another cool guy:

Psychic Head

And of course, all my usual reads:

Dandelion Mama’s Musings
A Muddle of Nervous Words
The Art of Falling Apart
Cooper Chronicles
Don’t Let’s Start
Dream Smiles at Me
Ethesis
Everyday I Write the Book
It is Written
Jen’s Horde
Knot in the String
Me and my Big Mouth
Peninsula Wave
Photo Action Boy
Mrs. Ronk
Running Forward
Scribble
Serenity Now!
Three Hours
Viva Ned Flanders

Sorry if I left anybody off, but I’m basically just re-listing my link list! Anyone got some good blogs to share, let me know in the comments!

When my youngest son, Elijah, was about 8, we lived in the family housing for UW students. A very small apartment. It was in a really nice area, right on Lake Washington (in Sand Point).

I came home from work one day to find a small bowl on the counter with two small rocks, a bit of moss, and a tiny twig in it. I asked what it was, and Elijah explained that the moss was his friend, Mossy. And the rocks were his friends, the twins, both called Rocky.

Picking up on the theme here, I pointed to the twig said, “Oh, and this must be their friend, Sticky?”

He said, “No, no. That’s their play thing!”

It is so hard not to laugh at him sometimes. I’m not sure if I managed it then. I may have laughed.

When Daniel had first seen Elijah with the bowl containing his friends, he thought the bit of moss was a caterpillar. He nearly died when he realized it was a bit of moss.

And Daniel later made the mistake, while doing dishes, of throwing Elijah’s friends away. Bad decision.

I worked in a small grocery store branch. We stayed open until 8pm. It was 7pm Halloween night, and the store was empty. Me and one other teller were working, plus the manager was in the tiny back room. I was staring off into space as the other teller, who was two windows down from me (there were only three windows in the branch), handled a customer who came up to her window. I wasn’t paying attention to anything so it took me a minute to realize, from the corner of my eye, that she was emptying all the cash out of her drawer. I glanced over quickly and saw the customer had a plastic bag on the counter.

I didn’t see a gun, but I immediately felt an acute sense of physical vulnerability. I pretended I didn’t know what was happening, and automatically did what I normally do when bored or unoccupied at work–opened my teller drawer to see if anything needed straightening. I realized he might think I was triggering an alarm and closed it again. Suddenly all I could think of was the fact that if I died, Daniel would be left with two toddlers to care for, and he was in no shape for that to happen. And I walked into the back room. (My window space was right next to–inches away from–the door to the back room.)

The manager was sitting at a small desk and the security monitor above her was flashing. I realized the other teller had already triggered the alarm. I’d heard a lot of nightmare stories about banks being robbed, the teller triggering the alarm, and the manager standing up in the middle of the robbery and asking, “OK, who set off the alarm?” Because it’s easy to set it off accidentally. So I put my hand on her shoulder to get her to look up and told her the alarm was for real.

Just then the other teller came running in exclaiming she’d just been robbed.

That’s about it. I was shaken up, wondered what I was doing working for so little pay at a job that endangered my life, but it wasn’t traumatic. I mostly find my reaction interesting–I can’t believe I just walked away and left her out there alone. But all I was thinking was, “I can’t die and leave Daniel and the kids alone.”

They train bank tellers to go along with anything a robber says. For a couple of reasons. One, they say anyone desperate enough to rob a bank is usually a drug addict, needing a fix, and therefore unstable and potentially dangerous. Do what they say. Two, the money is insured by the government–banks don’t lose money when they’re robbed. Taxpayers do.

I don’t think the guy who robbed us was ever caught. And I don’t think he got more than $1200. Tellers keep their cash drawers very low on money. The drawers are audited often, too, so that they’re diligent about it.

I was never in a big takeover style robbery. But I did fill in at the SeaTac branch the day after they’d had a bomb threat–because none of their regular employees wanted to work. They had installed bulletproof glass a year prior, and had no robberies. Until they had the bomb threat. I always thought bullet proof glass just made the customers more vulnerable–all robbers would have to do is point a gun at a customer, rather than the teller. But I’m wondering if most bank robbers don’t actually have guns, and just imply they do.

A lot of robbers will write a note saying “give me all your money” so they don’t have to say it out loud and draw attention. Tellers are trained to try to retain the note. I’ve heard stories about robbers being stupid enough to use the back of an envelope they received in the mail to write their note on, complete with their name and address.

Branches most likely to be robbed are those located near airports and freeway onramps. Because the robbers can make a quick getaway. Which is why the SeaTac branch, right next to the airport, had bulletproof glass installed.

Funnest show I’ve been to in a long time. I probably say that about every show–but this was the first crowd I’ve seen in LA with a full on grunge pit, crowd surfing, stage diving, the whole shebang. Soooo fun.

I’ll try to post a show review over at Kulturblog.com. But for now, here’s a bunch of pictures.

Nebula opened, was really fun to see Eddie Glass play in a bigger venue:

Hellacopters:

I seriously love this guy, gonna post a ton of pics…

I love venues with good lighting.

Bass player had super long dreads:

Love it when someone else’s flash goes off at the right moment:

I’ll post some songs on Monday (left all my music at work this weekend on accident).

Confessor - Sour Times
Portishead - Sour Times

I’m really loving this band, Confessor. Sometimes they sound a bit too much like Alice in Chains/Layne Staley, but there’s just not enough harmonzing in stoner rock for my taste. They harmonize a lot.

And Portishead has to be the best trip hop band, ever.

Got my hair done yesterday. It didn’t turn out the way I wanted, but oh well. I think I wanted it mostly brown with smaller white stripes–the opposite of what it is. But this is fun. Should get a big reaction at work tomorrow. I wonder what the nursery kids will do this afternoon when they see me.

Today I’m getting trained on using an insulin pump. I’m excited! Then I’m getting my hair cut. And tonight I’m seeing the Hellacopters, which should be a blast.

Daniel’s working all day. Cat’s going to a birthday party. The boys are lazing around doing nothing–which is what I need a couple weeks of!

…laughed out loud at something you read on the Internet?

…said “I love you” to someone?

…sang along with a song?

…paid someone a compliment?

…received a compliment?

…saw a movie that was really moving?

…read a poem?

…made someone laugh?

…learned a new skill?

…saw a band play live?

…got in touch with someone you haven’t seen since high school?

…danced?

…felt the sun on your face, and noticed it?

…listened to the Butthole Surfers?

—

Feel free to answer any of these in the comments, or post em on your own blog and do so (just post a link back here, k). My answers:

…laughed out loud at something you read on the Internet?
My 9 year old autistic nephew has started a blog. He’s been writing about some trouble he’s been having at school. The way he writes is pretty funny. He’ll say things like, “I got caught choking Joe at recess…”

…said “I love you” to someone?
Last night, before going to sleep.

…sang along with a song?
Yesterday in the car. Bruce Springsteen’s “Downbound Train.”

…paid someone a compliment?
My co-worker yesterday, for catching some stuff I’d missed.

…received a compliment?
A different co-worker yesterday, for my shoes.

…saw a movie that was really moving?
It’s been ages. Let me think…

…read a poem?
I think it was when I did a post saying I was going to starting posting some poems, posted one, and then no more. But no, it had to have been whatever poem Laura posted most recently.

…made someone laugh?
I think when I told my co-worker the next two cds I want to buy are Toto and .38 Special.

…learned a new skill?
Being in charge of the nursery at work has taught me lots of new skills. Two I’m probably most proud of are leading singing time (which I only have to do when the music leader is absent) and playing “Motorboat.” (It’s a more exciting version of “Ring Around the Rosey.”) If you had told me a year ago I’d be comfortable singing “Popcorn Popping” solo, in a room full of parents and toddlers, I would never have believed you.

…saw a band play live?
Last week, Opeth. This weekend, I’m seeing the Hellacopters w/Nebula (really excited for that). And the weekend after that, High on Fire is playing–one of my fave doom metal bands to see live.

…got in touch with someone you haven’t seen since high school?
Just a couple weeks ago. Well actually I guess I’ve seen him since high school–at my wedding, which was about 7 months after high school. An old friend who was better friends with my best friend, Jen. Jen recently got in touch with him again, so I emailed him. He’s still really into heavy music, which makes me happy. He went with me and Daniel to see the Butthole Surfers, St Vitus, Soundgarden and the U-Men in high school once. He’s actually the guy I first heard about Soundgarden from, in high school. He’d heard a demo song of theirs on the UW’s radio station and raved about them to me. Then I saw them open for Love and Rockets, and they blew me away.

…danced?
I think it was a couple days ago, in the car, listening to “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner.

…felt the sun on your face, and noticed it?
Last week when a co-worker took me to Venice for pizza at lunch. We parked on Electric Ave, which I discovered is the very street Eddie Grant sang about. And the weather reminded me a lot of Seattle in September, which was always my favorite month there.

…listened to the Butthole Surfers?
Why just last night. And now you can too, in the radio.blog.

Here’s one for the expectant mothers.

We were driving home from Burger King last night (did you know they have pretty good salads there?) and I mentioned a co-worker had brought his baby to work because she was sick. Somehow this got us on the topic of baby names.

And my husband said, “If we had another kid, I’d name him—Ppfffffffffftt.” He made a really long raspberry/farting noise.

I still laugh just thinking about it. I was laughing so hard the kids were worried I couldn’t drive. They asked how you’d spell it. My husband said, “You’d have to draw a picture of vibrating lips.”

Then the subject turned to a middle name for Ppffffft Malmrose. My youngest, Elijah, suggested a burp for a middle name. But my husband said, “No. His middle name would be—hrrreaar!” He made a horrible, high-pitched screeching noise, breathing in. Like something an alien in a movie would say.

I nearly died from laughing. The whole way home, the kids were saying, “Ppppffffftt–Hrrrearr–Malmrose!”