My movies: Office Space

Ok, I don't think Office Space will be among the best films in history, but I sure had a great time watching it. Not that I can relate to this tiny bit, noooo.... ;-)

1-I've been either too busy or too lazy to blog. I'm still busy AND lazy, but here comes my latest nonsense.
People in this part of the world are debating weather it's permissible to burn the picture of our king in public. Well, not exactly debating... it all started in a peaceful demonstration of a bunch of students where I live. To show their opposition to our country having a king, they burned a big picture of him. The most conservative people in Spain were instantly outraged. Actually, it's illegal to burn the pics of king and/or his family, which I think is kind of stupid, but... Anyway, one of the students was identified, arrested and later released but the case is not closed. He'll probably have to pay a huge fine or even go to prison, who knows. BUT that sparked some more people to burn more pics king and queen. Young and old, people gathered at a popular spot in our hometown to burn the pictures chanting phrases against our country having monarchs. But it's illegal. Just like burning the Spanish flag. Not the Catalan flag, or the Andalusian one, that can be burned without facing prison. Isn't that kind of contradictory? Where I live, many people just feel they don't belong to Spain. In other parts of Spain, actually they feel we (Catalans) don't belong to Spain, and call us funny names. They say we're "polish" (from Poland) probably because it's the farthest people they could think of. Sometimes I think it would be best to just delete history. Wouldn't people get along better without a nasty past?
2-I was talking to a friend of mine who complains her boyfriend doesn't talk much. She needs to talk, and express her feelings, he doesn't. Is that a common male trait?? Do we, women, need more talking than men?... I think so. And some men just have this habit of NOT giving a hint of how they feel. Trying to make small talk with my husband, just to give you an example, can be exhausting sometimes.
His idea of chatting is talking about the huge hole they found in Mars. Which happens to be the size of a football/soccer field (according to him, which gives him the excuse to talk about his favorite sport).
3-We stayed at my mother's home last night and she read my girls a bedtime story. And she was horrified. She started with Hansel and Gretel, which is cruel and scary. So she moved to Snow White, which is not much better, and kept trying to find a "nice" one, where parents don't abandon children in forests, or eat children, or wash clothes in the river (which is absolutely strange to them), or just without wicked stepmothers or envious sisters, but couldn't find one among the classics. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Blue Beard, all those stories, apparently, were first told to adults, in times of famine and disease, but somehow, they were passed to children...
4-So much talking about food at James' place has compelled me to post a picture of our dinner last night:
sardines with olive oil, Modena vinegar and bread with tomato spread...

PD: Feel free to print my post and burn it if you like, I won't be offended. ;-)

My husband swears he never puts any clothes WITH plastic in the drying machine...



The evidence, your honor.... (a bib)
Do you think I'd get a divorce? ;-)

PD: Cristina is having tantrum after tantrum. And not the Gandhi ones, more like... what Bush's tantrums might look like (although I hate the comparisson). Is this because school starts tomorrow???? I could always offer a deal in my divorce case: he gets Cristina, I get Alicia ;-)
he he...

My brother is a photographer. He was taking pictures of a newly wed couple and as the three of them were walking, they found this:

He told me the bride didn't run away ;-)

We had a good, busy weekend. Instead of following our usual routine (hubby's parents on saturday, my parents on sunday) we went to a small town in the mountains, played by the river... and the next day spent the morning in this tiny tiny place by the sea. There's no more than ten houses, I think... About our first visit, Alicia's concept of borders is quite unclear, because she said she prefers "this country" to our place...

I had the most unpleasant exchange with a co-worker and I still feel hurt. I thought I might just explain about our recent visit to Dr Mystery, since I had taken a day off work (I had told my boss in advance, he was most understanding and told us to do whatever we had to, not to worry). I had sent her a short text message when we arrived saying "we got home so late, we were supposed to see him at 5 but had to wait till midnight!, see you tomorrow". So I approached her this morning and started: "Our visit with the French doctor was quite an adventure..." And before I could go on she just blurted out, with a look of both contempt and anger: "Oh come on that's quackery, no physician would take a patient at midnight"... I was so surprised I just stared at her, so she continued: "you said you were going to visit a doctor, that can't be a doctor, come on..." in the most insensitive manner. She may have a point, it does sound strange, and to be honest, I don't know if he's a physician. But when you're trying to find a way out... you tend to cling to the smallest hope. And I thought it was just so cruel of her to speak like that. I didn't finish explaining. But she went on: "well, what did he say?? didn't you just come to explain?? What's going on, first you come and looks like you want to tell me and then you just stare at me... honestly Nuri, sometimes I just don't understand you..." I mumbled "I'm sorry, forget it", and left.

A scam?

We went to see the "alternative" doctor, the one my inlaws were so secretive about. We had to drive almost three hours north, into France. The sign on the door just reads "Daniel F. Kinesthesiterapie". We went up some stairs and into a small, square, poorly furnished waiting room, with just the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, eight plastic white chairs and a rectangular wooden table loaded with magazines. A toilet, a carpeted corridor with people waiting on the floor (the ones who weren't lucky enough to get a chair). Our first impression wasn't so good. This man (Dr Mystery) needs a diary, that's what I first thought but "oh, no, he just doesn't work this way", a woman in the waiting room said. No secretary, nothing. Apparently we were to wait until Dr Mystery comes out of his mysterious office, glances around and predicts how long it will take for us to be called in. He did, he looked at the friend who had brought us there (you know there's always a friend of a friend who knows that doctor that blah blah blah) and first said "no, not today, it's impossible". She didn't complain, she just looked at us and said, don't worry, he'll see us. He came out again one hour later and told us to come back in two hours. Great. Our friend said that means four hours. Even greater. That seems to be part of the mystique of this man. Apparently he had talked to our friend on the phone and told her he would see us at 5pm. But that seems to be one of his traits. You can't be sure when he'll see you. Not to mention, I still don't know if he's a doctor! So we went for a walk, came back, found some empty chairs, read, slept, talked, joked... the whole thing reminded me of a scene in Matrix, when they go to see the oracle. It looked like we were waiting for a wizard to come out and perform his miraculous cure. It was past midnight when we went into his office. He studied all the papers we gave him (CT, MRI, blood tests, everything) and he said something about hubby having too much cerebrospinal fluid. "How come his neurologist didn't say that?" I asked. "Because he didn't look for that, neurologist just look for tumors when they're trying to find causes for seizures, if there's no tumor, they don't go further", he said. ??? Well, he seems confident that he can help him control his seizures but he told us not to quit his medication, too. So we'll see. If this is a scam, it's not that good, because he doesn't charge enough. His fee is ridiculous (35 euros). His therapy is mostly cranial work (massage type). We arrived home at 5am. Somehow, we're hopeful, but also guarded. We'll go see him again in a month, but he told us to call him if hubby has another seizure... I hope NOT! I'm feeling better, I went to the doctor and he prescribed some antidepressant called "venlafaxine" but I haven't taken it. I'd rather find another route, like someone to talk to... but that's not included in our social security system. Psychiatrists are included, but not psychologists. So I can go for the cheap/chemical route (venlafaxine) or pay for a psychologist to listen to me! (the expensive/natural route.

Standard questions, standard answers...

My brother called
He- How are you?
Me- Fine
He- And hubby?
Me- Fine
He- And the girls?
Me- Fine, too.

But I'm not fine, I'm an emotional wreck. Irritable and snapping at people for nothing

Little Boxes

Here's a song for you, Job5.18 ;-) (and anyone who likes it, of course...)

Damned hospitals

Maybe we (meaning hubby and I) should pay for a private health insurance. One visit to the emergency room in my hometown is enough to realise our social security system has many many flaws. To begin with, it's usually jammed, to the point that you'll find patients waiting on stretchers or beds in corridors and halls. And tests take forever to be done. Sometimes you get pitiful evidence that this just does NOT work. Unfortunately yesterday we had to visit this wonderful hospital again, since my husband had another seizure (this time at work) and his co-workers called an ambulance, because they were quite scared. So they took blood samples again, put it in those tiny tubes and.... FORGOT to take them to the lab. So his blood just sat there for one hour until I realised it was still there and told a nurse. She apologised (said they had had a big crisis with another patient) and took the tubes. ONE HOUR later she returned and had to apologize again: the tubes had sat there for so long that the blood was no longer useful for testing so we were back at the beginning! I could have killed them. On top of that, some protocols are plain stupid, in my humble opinion. About 20 days ago hubby had his MRI. The results are at his doctor's desk, in another part of this huge building, and apparently they CANT check on them from Emergency. They just don't have access to them. So crazy, since it's the best test they had taken on him, but... no access! Will have to call his doctor on monday! I'll check about prices of private health insurances... I have one for the girls but luckily we haven't needed it so far. For check ups and routine visits we always rely on the pediatrician at Social Security. And We like him a lot. But this is entirely something else... and it makes you think, are we really in good hands?? We left the Emergency room at 2.00AM and they didn't even give him dinner!. Not to mention, at 10pm I told the nurse "should I give my husband the pills he takes at night? He always takes them at the same hour..." She said: "Let me check with the doctor" came back later and said yes. But you'd think they SHOULD know and REMEMBER to give him his pills without my telling them, right??? I hate that place. We'll do our very best NOT to go there again, I can tell you. Maybe the American TV series about hospitals have influenced me too much. You watch HOUSE and wonder if that's the type of health care Americans get! It all looks luxurious and Oh, I love it when a team of doctors go to the patient's house to check for possible causes of his disease! They check all rooms, all kinds of bottles! If I go to the doctor and complain of a bad cold or something, they'd just send me home with a prescription, but they would never ask for the keys to my home to check for a possible cause there!!!! (DO I REALLY MAKE SENSE??) I'm nervous/anxious/worried. I want his Epilepsy to be under control... why is it so hard??? (sigh*)

Randomness...

1-I'm trying hard to finish a report on songwriters/musicians/artists that perform for children. Does that have a special name in English? (Child entertainers?) I've had to read quite a bit about them, even some American singers who influenced our own artists a lot (in its genesis), such as Pete Seeger. Any thoughts?
2-We're having a couple from Estonia staying with us, a history student and his girlfriend. They came through Hospitalityclub.org. I'm a recent member of this group, since me and my husband enjoy meeting people from other countries... so far so good. They went for a walk in the old part of town and we'll meet them later for lunch...

Yesterday was Alicia's birthday. She turned 5! For the first time, we organised a small party at my parents' home and invited some of her friend and their parents. Had a picnic (my inlaws frown upon these shallow/consumist displays) and then we all went to the beach where I managed to catch more of those almost invisible fish. I thought about asking Alicia to make a wish when she was about to blow out the candles but I remembered the last time I told her to do something similar: We were at the Fontana di Trevi (in Rome), and told her to throw the coins and make a wish, so she did. She seemed to be taking it seriously, but then she looked at me and said: "I wished for you to buy me The Little Mermaid" So this time, I didn't tell her ;-)

Tales Of Mere Existence

I couldn't resist this one...
What's your advice? My mom used to lecture me like the teacher in this clip... :-)

She wants a dog.
Pros:
Company. Cute.

Cons:
Must train him not to pee in the apartment
take him for a walk everyday
take him to the vet
teach him not to bark too much
Not to chew on furniture
Not to scratch furniture
And last but not least: We'd have to pick his poo on the street (yikes)

So for now, she'll have to walk this stuffed dog. It's definately not the same but it will have to do...

Tales Of Mere Existence

I'm back to work, and I can sooo relate to this video... ;-)

I'm a bad mom

I cannot seem to have a pleasant conversation with my brother. It always ends up wrong. Yesterday it was about his 2 year old son, P. They had him when they had been told they probably never have children. And after 13 years of marriage, and totally unexpected, they had P. And to me, they have so many expectations with this child... they might just not leave room for him to grow. He's supposed to be the perfect child. To me, it seems like they just have a new appliance at home and follow instructions one by one. He's not just a kid, he's a museum object. And they're the only ones entitled to handle him. I was at the beach yesterday with my brother, the girls and P. I told my brother to go swim a bit, I'll watch over the children. He said no, he doesn't trust me. "What, do you think I'll let him drown?" i asked. Well, he just wouldn't go two steps away from his child. "So you'd never let me take him for a walk with the girls, right?" and he admitted he wouldn't. Both he and my SIL feel I'm careless. In their eyes, it's a miracle my daughters are alive, considering I seem to place them always in danger! You see, I don't run after them all the time. They find it shocking, because they always have a pair of eyes on P all the time (except at night), and I'm not exagerating. I've let my daughters sleep over at their home, but they will not let me have P without their watching. So all this has put some strain in our relationship. I'm fit to look at him, to admire him, but not to take care of him. And I'm mad. They find it surprising that my mom doesn't volunteer to take care of him (they would trust her more than me). I know my mom doesn't dare do that, because she's so afraid something might happen to him and they'd blame her! Last sunday my mom offered to take care of him, but SIL said no because there's a small inflatable swimming pool. My mom said "don't worry, I'll be watching" but she said no "No no, thank you, the doctor said kids can drown even in very shallow waters..." Anyway, I'm being bitter, probably, but I can't help it. We're supposed to look at him, admire him and say how cute he is, but NOT treat him like a kid. It's like handling a very expensive vase. It's not like that at all with my other nephews... and they manage to make me feel I'm such a bad mother... I should be giving my kids organic food, change their clothes immediately if there's so much as a small stain ... my brother even accused me once of letting Cristina get colds! I have the feeling if something happened to the boy, their marriage would break.

I'm a fishing expert

We've had a great time... too bad my husband is going back to work, and so will I in a few days. We haven't done anything special. Just taking walks, eating ice creams, watching Prison Break, eating out occasionally and going to the beach. The beach is great. Not many people, which is surprising considering it's july, maybe that's why the water was so clean. Or so it seemed, because the Mediterranean is supposed to be one of the most polluted seas of the world (sigh). I've become a fisherwoman! Some kids were trying to catch fish and crabs between rocks using small nets... my daughter insisted I must try and catch something. With a little patience and two small nets, I managed to catch a tiny fish (about the size of a toe!) but that was enough for the kids to consider me an expert! Two boys were staring at our fish and handed me their nets: "Would you catch one for us, please?"
By the way, is there anything more embarrassing than being on the sand and having your child, from the water, ask loud enough for everyone to hear:
"MOM, CAN I PEE IN THE WATER??"

PD: my husband had his MRI yesterday at 5AM... and everything seems to be fine... and blood results are ok (good levels of medication) GREAT!

Today is his 36th birthday! We're on holiday, going to the beach, even though this is a strange july... (not so warm, really)... so I guess I won't be posting much!

When did you really feel independent? At 18? This young lady here, at 2,5 years of age feels so independent, just because she doesn't wear diapers anymore and she can ride a bike... ha!

Did you know....

..... rat liquor actually exists?? I found this bottle in a shop where I live. Next to Irish Whisky!! It should read "Mice Liquor", though...right?