charlatan psychic

The flight is long coming from Italy, yet only about half as long as trips from the US. We got in around 9pm, strong winds pummelled us as we walked from the plane to the terminal. Once inside you join the flood of people headed through the immigration check. You stand in line for window 1 to pay for a visa. They direct you to window 2 where you stand in line to get a visa. Then it’s on to window 3, where you stand in line to get your visa stamped. A mix of all kinds of people, all ages, all nationalities, all tired, all just wanting to get through to the luggage wait. Of course there are a lot of people who already have visas, who only have to wait in the last line. J had collected our luggage by the time I got through all the lines. We headed outside and found Bob waiting for us. Yes, Bob. He was our driver. Frank was also there, and we would get to know Frank much better over the next week. Frank was chief guide on our trip and would lead us up the mountain. It’s abou...

I've noticed a few things this past year or so. I'm getting old. So, I've had unofficial (i.e. undiagnosed) arthritis in my ribs since I was a teenager. In Junior High, I was having pain in my chest and it hurt to breathe. Mom and I wondered if I had asthma. She ran into my by-then-retired paediatrician and listed the symptoms for him. He suggested it could be tietze syndrome. I don't know if I have that, (you can google it to learn more) but I have noticed that my pain is linked to humid/rainy weather. I didn't have much trouble when we lived in the dry climate of El Paso, but now that we're back in humidity, it's started again. My ribs, on one or both sides, get very tender. I sometimes can even notice them sticking out more. Swollen maybe? It's not as painful as it used to be, but it's still bothersome. It makes wearing a bra very uncomfortable, even if I have one of my wire-free ones one. So I've dealt with that before, and I can deal ...

I haven't posted in forever. I have not been writing. I haven't even been reading. What have I been doing? Working. And working some more. Winter is the busy season at Outdoor Rec. We rent ski and snowboard equipment, as well as leading ski/snowboard trips every weekend. So it's "all hands on deck" some days of the week. Three of my coworkers took vacation time over the holidays. At one point, that left 2 of us to work the front, 1 trip leader/maintenance guy/viking, and the managers. We had the boss's boss coming in to help out a few times. My point in all this, is that this period just ended. The vacation period, anyway. Everyone is back to work, and after working 8 days in a row (some half days, but still), I finally got some time off. I've been having migraines, but I'm starting to think they are associated with work and the stress of this season. And the fluorescent lights. When I get a couple days off, I feel so much better. What did...