Chronic Tonic at VOTS-Holiday Stress Edition

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Two weeks to go and I'm full of the spirit...

 

 

I don't know about anybody else, but I find this time of year stressful, I always have, even before I had kids, kids who want stuff, stuff I can't afford, stuff that's now a collector's item, stuff he's seen on YouTube...get off that damn computer, Dan! Where was I? Oh, yes--stress. Rather than a full on Festivus style airing of the grievances, I thought I'd throw out a small pre-Yule list of petty annoyances. Just a small pressure release valve sort of thing. It won't change anything, and some of them are totally trivial, but I'll feel better~

Dad, did it ever occur to you that when you downsize the tree that the angel you used on the old tree is going to look freakishly large on the new one? No, she's fully a third of the size of the tree, it's fine, really. (rolls eyes)

Damn you, CBS! I watch exactly two network shows and you had to move one of them to Sundays at ten. Did I say ten? Oh, well during football season that could mean anywhere from ten to who the hell knows. Oh, some weeks you put it on the schedule at ten-thirty? That fixed exactly nothing, my DVR still doesn't know run over for twenty more minutes. I understood and was not unhappy with quick and merciful cancelation that resulted for CSI Miami from this same time slot shift last year, but The Mentalist? Nay! Nay! Put it back, you bastards!
 

Look, let's just plan the Christmas dinner as we always enjoyed it for all of these years and not try to cater it in some way to what Mom may or may not eat. We saw how that worked out at Thanksgiving, didn't we? She'll decide she's hated lima beans her entire life right at the table. Why are we even talking about this? We'll just heat up some peas and have them on hand, it'll be fine.

If I never hear another retail chain bastardize a Christmas tune for their commercial it will be too soon. Not as egregious of an offense as bastardizing a good rock or pop tune, but still. Pay somebody to write your ass a jingle, it's not you're economizing so you can pay your workers a living wage or anything silly like that.

Stop pressuring me to take joy in certain seasonal activities. You see the carolers on the street and run to turn on your porch light and ready the cookies. Me? I say, 'Oh, shit! Dim the lights and get in the dining room, there's carolers on the street!" I just can't stand at the front door smiling and nodding approvingly while a group of strangers sings Oh Here We Come A Wassailing and they are not getting any of my cookies.

And while we're on the subject of joy, just because my joy doesn't resemble yours in any way don't assume that I'm not joyful, trust me, I am. It's just that I find my joy in little bursts here and there throughout my day, Holiday season or not. You want to see more joy? Stop all the pressure and I'll stop stressing and that will go a long way towards more joy. That and a local newscaster flubbing live on the air. Just be in the room with me when one of them says something like, "...at a local yumber lard" and you will see a person filled with glee~

 

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ok, i'm all holidayed up... i do like the season...

poligirl's picture

all of it, especially this year cuz the eve and holidays both fall on weekdays which means time off for me!  :D

but the cold is killing my joints... while it's not as bad as damp cold, the cold is making my fingers and wrists painfully stiff, so even though i enjoy the cold, this year, not so much...

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i hear ya! man, this is Louisiana fcol...

poligirl's picture

and we only hit 46 today. this is not normal cold, at least not over the past 4 years. really cold is 50 during the day. my 2 stray cats that i take care of outside were even still in the carport this morning it was so cold. i've never seen them in daylight. that's cold....

 

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Having grown up in a Jewish family

NY brit expat's picture

in a Jewish neighbourhood, Christmas really didn't impact much. Yeah, the presents for Hanukkah were always pretty minor (they had to last 7 days after all) ... but I loved going over to my friend's house (she was Catholic) and helping with the tree and playing with the Nativity scene. Like all Jewish families we went out for Chinese food on Christmas as they were the only other thing that was open and serving. It was the crappy and overly emotional Christmas tv fare that was pretty sucky.

Then, I married an Italian; he is an atheist and also his family are as well. However, spending Christmas with the family was de rigeur; so every Christmas we head over to Italy and it is like a bizarre movie, the discrete charm of the Italian middle class with extras (including the elderly Australian neighbour that is the sister of a former prime minister and the elderly Welsh women that calls herself a strange latin name rather than her real name and me). Inevitably, I have to buy all the Christmas presents for everyone (heaven forfend that he helps) and I have to try (with all my terminal grumpiness) to exude christmas cheer when honestly I would rather be sleeping than eating a 4 course meal at 1 in the afternoon (the seafood the night before is lovely though).

I have to be honest, I hate opening presents ... I hated it when I was a little kid and they had birthday parties and they sang happy birthday; being the centre of attention is a personal nightmare (I would hide under the table until the singing ended) ... I am not a morning person, opening presents in the morning makes me depressed. My favourite part of the christmas meal is the broth with tortelloni (otherwise known as soup with kreplach) which makes me miss my family ... bursting into tears is never good when everyone is full of christmas food and booze. Can I tell you how much I hate christmas, it makes me thankful I have no kids as we would have to avoid christmas and my kid would be singing I am a lonely little jew at christmas. 

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while I don't miss the actual act of

triv33's picture

baking the hundreds and hundreds of cookies I used to bake, I do miss the results. I mean, I get some cookies, but not like I used to make. I make limited cookies now and I can't seem to get a collection going. One batch is dwindling before another is half started. And I live with cookie fiends, apparently. 

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Ok here we go

LaEscapee's picture

Christmas music on the radio? WTF You put in a tape and all go smoke weed in the breakroom and expect everyone to just ignore the fact nobody has written an original since Cheech and Chong.

The lights... Don't people realize that some of us are trying to afford food while they triple the light bill to impress people they don't know?

The turkey... Hell don't you realize I just ate that shit a couple weeks ago? If you have to do it again at least make it a Turduken with some oyster dressing this time.

Presents... You didn't get me one why in the hell do you expect one from me you ungrateful little assholes.

The crowds...why in the hell are all you sumbeaches shopping at one time you had all year to do this shit all I need is a six pack gtfo my way..

I could go on but hey it's a start.

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Well I'm known in this town

LaEscapee's picture

so people think I'm being normal when I do that ;)

Oh and did I tell about the rednecks that think it is cute to wear those sweaters and how much that irks me? Or how about all the old ladies that knew me when I was a kid that think hugs and kisses are the order of the season?

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and can i say, i had a major vertigo attack...

poligirl's picture

last week. was my first. took me a few minutes to figure out what it was... read a lot about it the next day, while i still felt motion-sickey, and i have had a lot of ear probs and i'm pretty sure i have Meniere's... i'm like a textbook case, though the tinnitus and the muffled hearing eps are short lived and i always thought they were just weird tics of my body in a body full of weird tics... but the ear infections and the water constantly in the ear combined tell me it's prob Meniere's... yay.

i spose i'm a pro now with the fibro, the osteoarth, and this... and so my stoopid body goes...

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oh damn!

NY brit expat's picture

the tinnitus doesn't necessarily last all day nor the aural fullness. Read the pieces I wrote for kosability on living with menieres, there are lots of good links.

Was the vertigo rotational (are you literally standing still and the room rotating around you) or positional (like you are on a ship at sea)? How long did it last? Did you drop to the floor (drop vertigo) or were you able to remain sitting or standing? Write me, I can offer some advice. But have a stash of pills for seasickness (OTC) with meclizine in it; you do not need a script.

It may just be BPPV  (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo); but if you have tinnitus and the aural fullness it is probably menieres. First of all, don't freak! There are many gradiations of menieres and some people can control with diet (cut out salt, booze, tobacco, coffee for a bit). write me and we can talk!!!

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it freaked me cuz it had never happened before...

poligirl's picture

the full attack happened in the middle of the night when i got up to go potty. i got out of bed and i thought i was gonna fall down. i was still half asleep and i remember thinking 'man, i'm gonna fall off the toilet'. it was that bad. thank gawd i just had to make oit back to the bed.

if it had been during the day, i would've probably dropped - i could barely make it back to bed - and i would've been very nauseous... the spinning was out of this world. the world was spinning and i couldn't walk.

i do have dramamine at home now.

and yeah, i used to get really motion sick as a kid. and i've alwasy had a bit of tinnitus, but it only lasts a minute when it happens so it's never really bothered me. same with the murky hearing. very short duration and so doesn't really bother much. but the vertigo? man, i didn't even know what it was called til i mayo clinicked dizziness and realized that it was vertigo... damn - it scared the crap outta me... i kept thinking, if i'm like this when i wake up in the morning, i'm not going to be able to function at all, even on a minimal level...

hoping to quit smoking this weekend. cut down already but have been aiming at quitting. i don't drink much either, maybe 2 or 3 times a week at most, and a couple beers or a glass of wine then. and i hadn't drank for a few days when i had the attack. i'll send you an email. i could use some tip for prevention as well as things to do if/when it happens again...

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I always had what people call vertigo

NY brit expat's picture

things spinning due to being up at a height. I actually went to a church in Florence which had a mosaic as a spiral and the ground just went out. I thought that I knew vertigo until I started having drop vertigo ...  I couldn't stand on my feet or stay in the chair, the ground just went out, my eyes spiralled ... it was really really strange and these happened without warning.

After 7-8 of these, I actually started getting warning, ears stuffed up, lots of tinnitus (my old tinnitus was nothing compared to what I have now ... it is ramped up to the nth degree, it is qualitatively different ... sometimes low tones, sometimes high tones (it depends on where the fluid is accumulation according to my ent) lasts for hours sometimes, days if it is really bad. The sock stuffed in the ear is annoying. But the vertigo is a nightmare ... you have no control at all which makes me really really stressed. The long attacks (4 hours plus) had gone away for 9 months and now they are back again and I am so stressed out and so depressed it is not funny. I have been a mess and am waiting for them to start over again; I am just simply hysterical.

Sounds like a positional attack to me; if it was rotational you could not have made it to the bathroom ... those on literally don''t move and maybe, just maybe, I can stay in my chair attacks. 

Prevention works iff you do not have a strong version; my friend has only had 1 attack in his life; I have lost count. Is it in one ear or two? if it is bilateral, I do not know what can be done except to take the antivert. they give me betahistine here, but it is not prescribed in the US and I don't know if it works. I take thorazine (5mg) when I get an attack; it works better for positional rather than rotational attacks and I think the same would hold for the antivert. But, start reducing salt consumption asap; you are not drinking heavily which is good as that makes it worse. I had no effect from the coffee except on the tinnitus; it makes it worse, but does not impact on the vertigo. Someone suggested using ginger (sailors used it) ... ginger tea, etc. to help with the nausea and the vertigo. My hearing has not returned, if yours comes back, it may not be menieres, it may be a related illness; I have been hoping that the ear dies to end the vertigo. Write me. 

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mine is both ears...

poligirl's picture

always had the minor tinnitus and stuffy ears... started having heights probs in my late 20s early 30s, when my allergies manifested as well.

none of it bothered me much, but this vertigo stuff - this is bad. gawd i hope i don't have another. that would be a blessing. if i do have another, i will go to the doc... as for now, i will start cutting salt, and hopefully tobacco. i don't drink coffee, and rarely even drink tea. i don't drink alcohol much, so i prob won't cut that much cuz there's not much to cut.

dear gawd, i'm just glad this first one was in the middle of the night and not at work.... :o

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mine started in the left and is moving to the right

NY brit expat's picture

when you had the attack, did you notice which ear it was in? did one ear feel really congested after the attack? If it is both ears, if it is already bilateral, you really need to see a doctor; the surgery helped but I was having these things 3 times a week.

I am hoping that you do not have another attack; maybe it is a one-off (fingers crossed and actually praying to non-existent gods for that for you) ... sending hugs!!

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did not notice any hearing change in my ears...

poligirl's picture

but i went from totally asleep to being mostly asleep having to use the potty, so it may not have registered. i did not notice any difference in my ears later that day, in spite of having that motion sick headachey feeling...

thanks NYbe! i am hoping too that it's one and done, but if it does happen again, i will paying a lot more attention to what is going on with my ears and head. this one really took me by surprise.

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Excellent. You made me laugh, thank you.

Glinda's picture

My pet peeve when shopping online is after receiving a sale ad email and I order a thing or two online, I forgot to put in the damn code.

Bastards.  If I'm clicking on the link from the email, put the damn savings code in for me.  Granted, some of them do, but if not, it turns into a puzzle what is the code and where do I put it if I even remember there is a code, since the sites show an X % off, so I think that's the sale, and then realize I could have couldn't more of a discount.  

 

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yeah, I hate the code...

triv33's picture

If i'm coming there from google that's one thing, but they sent me the e-mail!!!! they know I'm coming and they made the damn offer! that's big hairy bullshit in my book to click the link and still have to remember to paste in 2DUM2LIV to get my 25% off.

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