the honeymoon is over

It's 4:30am and I'm pretty proud of myself. I just lifted my leg by myself and didn't whimper!

Last night, I was finally allowed to take a shower, a full 48 hours after surgery. Trust me, I was not happy after I heard the news that I had to wait even that long. I was also given directions that my dressings would have to come off, so as to heal and not infect my incisions. I was more than excited about this -- partly because I was curious as to what my knee looked like -- but mostly because I really wanted to be clean.

What I didn't realize is the amount of stabilization that the dressings gave me. Not only did I have two ace bandages helping support my knee but there was a semi-hard (because of dried up fluid - gross) 6x6 piece of gauze/cast that helped the top of my knee stay motionless.

Needless to say, all my showing off to my mom while the dressings were on -- me doing leg lifts onto the bed without breaking a sweat, hobbling around the house, not needing her in the middle of the night to get me ice -- to prove that I could go home and take care of myself -- went down the tubes after I fell into at fit of pure frustration of not being able to lift/move my leg at one point late, last night (there were actual tears involved).

Besides the usual lifts in and out of bed, I guess the added trauma of standing in the shower was too much for my knee in one day. There is nothing more frustrating to me that not being able to do what I know I can do; I was literally willing my knee/leg to move, only to feel shooting pain. The only good thing I learned from that (now that my mom is convinced that I cannot go back to my condo) is that it gave me a glimpse of what PT is going to be like.

So, the honeymoon of the surgery is over. I'm currently sitting here with an ice pack on my knee, trying to assess if I really need that percocet, and really proud that I learned how to use my good leg to lift the other into bed.

PT starts on Monday and I know I have a long way to go. But I'm ready for the pain, because I refuse to taking this all sitting down (literally).

where i'd rather be.

prescription, schmiption

leah: you know what is driving me crazy? besides the fact that i want to drink now?

my anti-malaria pills (i still have to take them just in case) say not to get excessive sun exposure

and i fell asleep at the park. in the sun. yesterday.

i'm all kinds of itchy today. i feel like a kid with chicken pox.

Neil: damn, that would be crazy if you got malaria

leah: exactly why i haven't stopped taking the pills yet

Neil: that would only happen to you

leah: i know.


i, in my infinite knowledge, chose my anti-malarial pills based on side effect, not on length of time.

A = hallucinations and nightmares (4 weeks of pills)
hallucinations could be fun, but a little scary.

B = canker/cold sores (2 weeks of pills or something like that)
umm, no. there is no saying yes to herpes simplex 1.

C = clearing up acne, upset stomach (6+ weeks of pills)
clear face, no malaria? sweet!

so needless to say, even though i've been back for 3 weeks, i'm taking these pills for 6 more days (and that's only because i forgot to take some last week). the only problem is that there is a restriction to the exposure of sun* on the label. this is a problem for the girl who likes to be outside on gorgeous days. and read a book. and possibly fall asleep. at the park. to african drumming.

yesterday's sunday fun day, was spent at my 2nd favorite place in the city, with a mat, a book, and a julia's empanada; waiting for the african drums to start while listening to the rush of the fountain going downhill. it was all good, so good, in fact, that i fell asleep outside. that is, until the holy roller with the bullhorn showed up, and woke me up with bible verses.

in case you didn't know, holy roller + bull horn = ineffective way of converting people, especially when these people are trying to relax in the park on a lazy sunday afternoon and just listen to some percussion (yes, including cow bell). and seriously, bible verses are not meant to be yelled out on a bull horn in that tone. get it right.

needless to say, i sat at work, scratching away. typing a word, then scratching away. i need mittens. or to stop taking malarial pills. but since things tend to happen to me, i think i won't give up on these pills just yet.



*this totally explains why i was sooooooo red in africa and why i thought i was allergic to the sheets and itchy for four days straight. stupid me. i am filipino after all.

jetlag = bad post

it's been one full week and i'm still on african time. failed attempts to get back to DC time have included:

• staying out and drinking on friday night with fun people. i pretty much fell asleep sitting up at the bar at 10:36pm and only after 4 beers.
  
• taking a sleeping pill last night instead of going out with other fun people that i miss (sorry, guys, i'm totally lame...). i didn't even make it past 10pm. and i still woke up at 4 and said @*#$@$#@&$%! --- like ten times.
  

due to lack of sleep and just plain being miss grumpy, i've tried to save you all from my bitching by avoiding all public contact (i've snapped at two people this week... sorry j's). one day, i'll be normal again - as normal as i ever was, at least.

anyway, to the more important updates, because, i'm sure you are dying to know...

• i am not cool enough to upload the jump video because i don't have a dvd ripper. any volunteers? payment will be made in food because since leah's cabinets and fridge have been empty since march 20th, she stupidly decided to go to the grocery store hungry this morning. and instead of sticking to her list of eggs, milk, cheese, some veggies and some chicken -- leah bought all kinds of cool semi-gourmet food that will last all of 1 week before spoiling unless she feeds someone else. trust me, this whole nosebleeding thing needs to explained thoroughly so i would love to post this video. i'm not taking this lightly. :P stop laughing, miss e.
  
• yes, i was lucky enough to win a ticket to see benny, but at this point i'm all Poped out. and actually, tired of waiting for youtube to upload my video of the POPEMOBILE (yay!). the mass was amazing, the excitement of the crowd was thrilling, and benny was so cute with his german accent. it was a great day and i loved it. (this post gives thursday no justice, but i'm sleepy).
  
  
• oh, and i was totally surprised that placido domingo was at the mass. he was far, soi only got jumbotron images that i won't post here.
• sis and i took little j to the zoo for first time yesterday. holy crazy crowded. but she saw her elephants (asian elephants are not as cute as african ones), her zebras (dude, why are the zebras at the zoo dirty? and not as cute as the african ones, i might add!), and a slew of other animals. she was uber cute yesterday. probably won't be the last time at the zoo for the next couple of years, but definitely will be the last time we go on the first, warm, saturday of the year.
  

Bed = good

Pimp my ride is on tv
sidenote: they are randomly playing postal service. eh?

and I just woke up from a four hour (much needed) nap.

wha?! Yes, Leah took a nap. in the middle of the day. by choice.

Oh, and I'm in Johannesburg.

Yeah...

Missed flight to our vacation due to some SAA incompetence and can't get to Livingstone until tomorrow. And since this is the fifth flight, and second glitch in this week, J and I decided to just find a hotel. Anywhere. I think my exact words to our travel agent were "... Two rooms, at a hotel near the airport, lower than an exorbitant amount, and... :pause, look at J and smirk: ... preferably with a casino."

J, trying to figure out what to do next outside the Tambo airport

We(he) know(s) how to roll. Except that there is no casino in the hotel. For me, I found a hotel spa. With cheap treatments. And after this week (and if you know me) I was stoked! Maybe jo-burg was fate - for me to relax, and for J to have some fun. We both needed it after running the length of Tambo International airport both with 25lb packs and dealing with some very not-so-nice people while still in good spirits (oh, and working like nuts and not getting more than five hours of sleep since our arrival on this continent, last week).

I ran downstairs with a to-do list that would rival Paris Hilton's weekly treatments and was pretty unreasonable for a half day, but I didn't care. I get to the floor and it had closed... five minutes before I got there.

So, instead, we both passed out. Me more so than him because he just called, woke me up and laughed. HMPF.

I guess it's time to have dinner and find real internet. I'll make the most of this, maybe I can update pics tonight...

Why don't I go out, you ask? We were exhausted and needed to chill, he hates being a tourist and I'm not going out by myself because Johannesburg is not such a safe city; I've been warned many times by books and friends.

And I'm at an airport hotel. Near nothing.

Actually, the hotel staff told me not to go out in the city - just go to the outskirts - because "the blacks and immigrants are dangerous."

Umm... yeah, lady, apartheid is over, and I'm a minority. But, thanks, I'm still not going out.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

the [mis] adventures continue...

It's 9pm on Friday night and I'm officially on vacation! (yes, cue the gogo's now)

Don't anyone call me/text/google chat if you want to talk about work.

First things first, I survived the hostel. Or what one of my traveling companions called "a homeless shelter." It was a test of my patience but also really fun -- and funny. I laughed - nervously - through the whole ordeal. Thank goodness for Blackberries, google talk, and people who like to stay up and email me.

no, really! i'm laughing, not crying.
also, rare proof of a candid shot of leah.

Things to note when staying at the Sleep N Shower in the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (near gate 3):

• the room is tiny, even for me. i don't really understand how the 6ft tall guys fit in the bed.
  
• the ceiling is not whole and the walls are not thick -- which mean you can hear every sound your neighbors make including but limited to: zippers opening/closing, your travelling companion on the phone next door, the front desk guy talking to his friend in kenyan, the noisy german couple two doors down, and your hired a/v guy who is snoring on the other side of the complex.
  
• the shower is sketchy. the males in our group were too scared to take a shower -- for good reason: their water didn't work, and when it did, the chlorine was burning off skin of the other guys in the place (at 4am). the ladies though, were troopers with the shower. though, admittedly, i'm scared that i may catch something.
  
• i swear that there were bed bugs. i'm still itchy.
  
• it was almost as nearly as bad as the belmar beach hotel in nj.
  

Anyway, after that ordeal, it was off to Zambia, where when we landed, we hit the ground running (albeit, a little grumpy from lack of sleep). I got to the hotel just in time to meet with my advance staff, the car hire director, my clients, the hotel staff, and with the local av company and then set-up registration. I could hardly keep my eyes open and more dangerously, stopping my mouth from saying what I really thought. And of course, that night, changes to the agenda were given to me at 10pm (again, an exercise of patience). But no worries, today was almost a piece of cake, even with our "presidential" ish VIP.

I'm a little bummed, because I've waited a full two days for non-dial up internet in the lobby and I still can't post videos of the Von Trapps and the other pictures that I've taken. On top of that, CelTel doesn't recognize my blackberry.


need. real. internet. now.


But then again, I'm in Africa. So I'll shut up.

I'm sad to say that in Lusaka, I have seen 1) the inside of the Taj Pamodzi hotel, 2) the inside and road to FedEx, and 3) the inside of the Peace Corps complex for like, 0.5 seconds. And, that's it. Work was a little to crazy to explore and it's too late to walking around by myself.

But tomorrow equals flight #5 and #6 to Livingstone, Zambia where there are animals (crossing fingers), falls (yay), and a pool (hey, I refuse to go to Africa and not get dark). I wish that we could have chartered a plane like some other that are traveling with us but it's ok; two flights and another country later, I'll be on vacation. in Africa.


sick.

in all her swanky glory.

kitas, in red square near st. basil's cathedral

last night, i had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend, kitas, who is abandoning beautiful dc (and a whole slew of friends) for what her current roommate calls a city with a broken bell. damn philly, stop taking my friends!

kitas and i met at pre-college visit and were pretty much thrown together in every freshman college related instance after. luckily, we became good friends and have kept up regularly for the past few years.

i'm a little bummed that she's moving but am happy that i have another friend to visit in philly (oh, and that she was brave and determined enough to decide that she was worth more than the crap she was being given at work). maybe one day, i'll learn appreciate that city the way that real philadelphians do (and maybe start putting my foot down at work when my crazzzzzy clients call me at 5:30 on a friday evening and saying that they had an emergency and that i need fix something. hence, why i am at work this saturday morning at at 6:00. yes, that's a real timestamp; i just finished calling halfway across the world.)

one of best memories that kitas and i have besides her scary obsession with one of my candles, the way she made my psycho roommate, fay, cry because she kept her dead dog's picture in her locket, our obsession with this random professor that we deemed MacDaddy, is that she and i went poland and russia together just two years ago. it was a pretty awesome trip. we went to see jeannage in poland, then flew to see my cousin lou in moscow, and then back to jeannage's party house krakow for more polski fun.

on our first night in poland, we drank mad dogs which is just guaranteed pukage in a (pretty!) shot. yeah, vodka, grenadine, and tabasco sauce. i took 6 of these, trying painfully to keep up with the poles after having had only onion soup for dinner. kitas tried her best, and on our drive down to the spas in krynica (in the mountains near the slovak border), had to take an unexpected stop. that was pretty funny.

during the trip we took a side trip to auschwitz and randomly ran into a kid from college -- who is mostly remembered as the kid who tried to use real paper in the overhead projector during our class-wide senior comprehensive presentations. and the guy that told donner that her underwear was on the roof. he was weird. and i thought it was creepy that i ran into him in the torture chambers in auschwitz considering the last time i saw him was said event with projector.

also, of course, in the rynek, we ran into the popemobile. sorry, i had to...





in russia, we took millions of tours of the city with cousin lou, hung out with my cousin's chauffeurs teaching them english and "filipinski" and recovered from flying aeroflot.

all in all, we took 9 flights within an 11 day trip but had a great time celebrating our fabulous, single, mid-twenties. now that we're both 'growing up' it's exciting to be nearing that big 3-0 as things fall into place with homes, jobs, and sense of self. but most importantly, it's great to have a good friend by your side to bitch with during the whole arduous process.

it's been a long 10 years, kitas! cheers to you! we'll miss you in dc.

kitas, at a club in krakow, after mad dogs and grass vodka.

oops.

so it's no surprise that i'm not a web designer. and while i knew that different browsers = different page sizes and different computers = different fonts, i was still sorely disappointed that my last post came out misaligned when i showed it to a friend yesterday (she has IE). especially since it took me FOREVER to align that just so.

so here it is: best viewed in Mozilla Firefox


sigh.

NOT pretty

can someone please send daniel day-lewis' date rachel zoe's phone number? ... or just give her a mirror?

there are so many things wrong with this outfit. i mean, i like being green and all but it looks like someone recycled christmas for a dress.

it looks like she took the table cloth and made a skirt, took the velvet tree skirt for the top (how else do you justify why the top part of her dress is an ackward length pointing to her tummy?). for good measure, she took the tie-on bows from her christmas tree to make straps and then decided to attach some of her christmas ornaments on the front. two different sizes, you know, so it wouldn't be too much.

and the shoes, THE SHOES?! i like weird shoes. i can't hate on that. but seriously, what's worse than a recycled christmas dress? recycled christmas dress paired with zebra shoes. o.m.g.

songs in my head

...Don't wake me, I plan on sleeping in...
Sleeping In, The Postal Service

• This morning, I crawled out of my warm and dream-filled bed, admittedly, to get mass out of the way (terrible I know), at what I thought was 7:30am express mass. No singing = back in bed after a half hour. Note to self: local church has cantors at 7:30am mass, so mass at 7:30am and 12noon are the same 1 hour length. The priest was sleepy also so I didn't feel that bad.
• But did I mention that I was out last night until 2:00am?
  

...Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick...
Just Like Heaven, The Cure

• Spent Thursday night at an 80's Dance Party dancing and melting to images of Patrick Dempsey in "Can't Buy Me Love." And of course, I requested the Cure. It's a sad and sick obsession, I know.
  
• Had a quick drink at Gate last night where everyone was too young to know that the DJ was playing good, old school, hip hop. It was very sad. and I felt old.
  
• Afterwards, went to Right Round where there were kids with big, black X's on their hands knew more lyrics to the new wave songs than I did. That was awesome. but I still felt old.
  
• Just Like Heaven not only played at RR but aired on the radio on my drive back across the bridge. I think I've heard it more than 10 times in the last 5 days. I'm more-than-ok with that.
  
• Did I mention that it was played on the adult contemporary station?

i'm just sayin.

so, i read this blog, pretty in the city, because this chick karyn has balls. that and she's just a nice, normal bloggurl that lives a way cool life in nyc. she also has really fun friends:


now, if only i could find a guy who would do this and enjoy it.

while i'm on the subject of people that i know only in my head and not in real life: the barbara walters special on the 10 most fascinating people is on. yeah, i know. but i don't have cable, so you can't blame me because it's this or watching the cw. anyway, david and victoria beckham are currently being interviewed and i cannot keep my eyes off of david beckham. umm, hi...

however, i muted the TV because between him and babwa, i want to tear my ears off. how does a man that sexy have a voice like that? he just fell a few notches off the hot ladder (not much mind you, but some). becksy, just smile and use those smoldering eyes. leave the talking to posh. "majah!" sigh.

just in cases

things i enjoy about living on the 14th floor:

• the view of the washington monument... ok , it's only the tip but it's still in my view - on a clear day
  
• that goes for the air force memorial too.
  
• my july 4th party = full view of the fireworks sans crowds and parking issues
  
• i can see if 395 is backed up
  
• the roar of 395 isn't as loud on this floor
  
• i don't feel guilty taking the elevator (i did when i lived on 5)
  
• the neighbors i have on this floor are friendly -- but keep to themselves

things that aren't so great about living on the 14th floor:

• i can see various motels, 4 mile run, and gas stations along with my monument view
  
• it's a pain in the ass when you forget something in your car
  
• it's really the 13th floor, and certain people won't let you forget it
  
• when there is a fire, you have to walk down 14th flights of stairs, not knowing where the fire really is
  

so, there was a fire in my building today. as far as i know, there was a some renovation work - possibly electric - on the 15th floor and it caught fire. the only damage was to the 15th and 16th floors; there was no one injured so that's fine. it's a little scary that my safety (and my things) are at the mercy of my neighbors watchful (or not-so-watchful) eyes. i guess that's my risk in owning a condo right?

in a effort not to be a stupid girl during what could have been a tragic incident, i decided that i would go down as is, with only my phone and keys in hand. yeah... did i mention that i went out funleah style last night and decided to have a lazy sunday in my pajamas? fourteen floors is a long way if you have to escape something. and i'm not about to be known as the girl who died in the fire because she stayed to change her clothes. there are less stupid things that i could die from. you know, like skydiving.

it was fun(ny) to see my neighbors in the lobby showered and dressed, or even coming home from lunch or church, while my lazy ass was in pajamas and had mussed hair. i mean, seriously, it's a filipino mother's nightmare. [insert your filipino mother's version about why girls should always have matching bra and panties here] and if you're not filipino, ask one of your friends during a happy hour. it's ridiculous and somewhat hilarious.

although not a fun event and certainly not how i wanted to spend 2 hours of my afternoon, laughing about my mom's "rule" helped keep my head on straight while most others were worried about elderly neighbors, pets they left behind or their stuff. i really must check on my fire extinguisher... and get new pajamas.

Moving Forward

I've had this blogger site now since April. And I guess, it's about time to move forward from my other site. It's been a good 4 years, but it's time to more forward to my grown up blog. Since apparently, my friend B thinks that "xanga is for 15 year olds." Fifteen, I surely am not. So here I am, starting anew for the umpteenth time on this site. From looking at my archives, I guess I tried to post on October 9th with the following:

"I used to be a chameleon; I could switch between one group of people to another and feel completely comfortable in each skin, each different personality. Some would mistake that as being..."

Interesting yes? Don't know what state of mind I was in earlier this month, but oh well. Let me finish this and make it my own writing exercise.

... fake or schizophrenic, depending on your mood that day. I'm generally able to adapt myself to any situation but in my older age, I feel as though I become stagnant in my ways. I know what I want, what I don't want, and why I don't care to waste my time on things that aren't worth my time. Life is so much simpler and happier when you erase the unnecessary drama (or at least try to).

The other night, I was reminded as to how I've changed in the last three years. Actually, it came as exclamation to a very surprised group of friends as I walked into a bar. You would have thought I was a bear coming out of hibernation. Compared to my weekly frolics and antics of years past, I guess I agree, I was maybe a little more fun (and accessible) back then. But I've moved on; I'm moving forward. Priorities have changed (hi, mortgage?!) and life goes on.

What baffles me, though, is the sense that my friends thought that my changing was wrong or not me. Apparently, my lack of attendance to happy hours has had a direct affect on who as I am as a person. Umm, no sweetheart, not really. You obviously, don't know me at all. I know how to have a good time (I'll recount FUNleah! stories in another post), but seriously, if you had a choice of happy hours in DC to happy hours in Dublin, which would you pick?

Guinness sure does taste better across the pond. I know from experience. And that's what I want, something new to taste, to do, to see, to discuss. And hopefully, if lazyleah doesn't appear, you'll get liveleah: my life as I know it, just doing me.