Friday Fictioneers - E48 South Main

My thanks, as always, to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting.

PHOTO PROMPT © C.E. Ayr

Friday Fictioneers - E48 South Main - 100 words

I loved these shoes. They looked cool, and they hadn't cost me a cent, handed down from a friend who always spent good money on good clothing. When she was finished with something, she'd give it away to a similarly-sized friend who loved hand-me-downs.

Lucky me!

But this pair developed a squeak, and I couldn't for my life find the source of the squeak. They were such fun to wear, except for that squeak. Clearly, I had to find a similarly-sized new friend out on the street! (I hadn't noticed that pegleg when we met at her cardboard box; hmm... )

Thanksgiving with the Bros.

Happy Turkey Day, all you kids who celebrate this Tryptophan-filled, football-watching extravaganza!

I took a dose of Hydroxyzine early last night so I'd be able to get back to my "up at 6:30 whether I need to be or not" schedule, so I could spend a well-rested and alert day in the Warner Bros. Archive (newly renamed from the Warner Bros. Museum). Had a bowl of cereal and took my final dose of Prednisone this morning. Got to work in plenty of time to get hit with just enough raindrops that I could choose to park my car outside (in case of a free shower). Attended a "service meeting" in the regular building, and then headed over to the other building where I and the other gals working in the Archive would officially "check in".

Got over to the museum Archive; spent the day interacting with guests in the various spaces. Broke for lunch, which was a potluck-style Thanksgiving dinner. Knew I'd be having my "real" turkey dinner when I got home, since Stephen was so pleased with the

cornbread, crockpot turkey breast, butternut squash, and lentils. YUM!

crockpot turkey breast he'd done last year that he'd been making plans all week (month?) to do a repeat performance. Ate a little ham and some not-so-great mashed potatoes and some really great... FLAN. Yep, FLAN on Thanksgiving. Thank you, whoever made the FLAN! It was really great!

Finished up the shift and headed back to the "regular building" to see about getting some cold weather gear (and also to find out how to finish up my "medical work restriction"). Clocked out early because I'm a good employee who understands that when there's no reason to stay on the clock, one clocks out, and I went home.

Now I'm here, and Stephen was a teensy bit upset with my disruption of his "best laid plans of mice and men" to get dinner on the table by the time I was scheduled to be home, and I'm blogging with a glass of wine while he surfs the PS4. He's already put up the Christmas tree, kids. It must be Christmas.

Still love the tree-topper angel, Daddy. Thank you.

Creeping up on TWO YEARS of blogging, kids! TWO YEARS! You believin' that? Not nearly as many posts in the past year as the previous, but that could change again in 2016. WHO KNOWS? Thank You for stickin' with me, through thick times and thin.

So, what are you grateful for this fine day?

Adult Diaper Rash

Yes, kids, it is as bad as it sounds. And I know, I know. I haven't been posting lately as frequently as I would like. Things have been "stewin'", and I'm just trying to decide what is important for you to know about my life these days.

So I acquired what I am referring to as "Adult Diaper Rash" last week. I was on set on Thursday and Friday, ballroom dancing (or trying to, in a room full of lying background actors who had stated that, yes, they were "familiar" with ballroom dance but not one of them actually knew how to lead or follow a simple waltz). I'd just bought myself a beautiful black cocktail dress the day before, and I was wearing black hosiery. When the wardrobe department changed my outfit to something with "more color", I should have removed the hosiery. When I asked if I could, the response was "why would you?" and frankly, the answer should have been, "because I'm the only person not dressed in black, wearing black hosiery. I look stupid, and I feel uncomfortable". Really, I should never have asked. I should have removed the hose when I changed the dress.

Instead, I wore the dress; I wore the hose; I taught a bunch of background actors how to waltz; we all went to work, dancing for hours on end in a non-ballroom with hard marble floors and too much heat from our bodies and the equipment. At the end of my long workday Thursday, when I peeled the hose off, I started scratching my left ankle and right knee.

Went back to work on Friday with a full-blown rash up the backs of both legs. Delayed wearing the hosiery for as long as humanly possible. Indicated to a few folks, including the background "wrangler", why I was not wearing them. Knew I'd eventually have to put them on, as the shots we'd get on Friday would need to "match" what we'd shot on Thursday. Mentally kicked myself all day for not removing the hosiery on Thursday before I got on camera.

Friday was not as long of a workday, but we discovered that the music that would be played on camera was, in fact, a Viennese Waltz, and that four couples of "professional" dancers had been brought in to make the rest of us look better (or worse? Not sure). I went around "adjusting" the waltzes we'd all been doing from the previous day, as there was no way any of us would be able to match the pace of the music with the boxstep we'd been doing the day before. It was a workout.

Woke up a few times Friday night scratching. Uh oh. Got up Saturday morning, and the rash had spread up to my low back/upper buttocks (hence, Adult Diaper Rash). Went to work at Warner Bros. early so I could talk to a manager about possibly switching from a tour shift to a tour support shift (as my work uniform would chafe the rash if I were sitting or walking, which I do for two hours at a time while guiding tours). No dice; had to have a doc's note indicating a change of worktype; went to the First Aid station on the lot to get said note; no dice - they can only treat small "wounds" like bug bites, not "systemic" wounds like a heat rash. Got a referral to a couple of urgent care centers, and left work for the day to see about taking care of this.

Before heading to any of the urgent care centers, though, I had to figure out how to file a Workers' Compensation claim against my Thursday/Friday employers on a Saturday, as this was in no way related to my work at Warner Bros. but absolutely would impact my ability to work there going forward. Made a few phone calls; got something in the works; got seen. The doc did not touch or scrape or in any way make contact with my rash. He heard my explanation of its origin; prescribed a steroid shot and some Prednisone and Hydoxyzine, and sent me on my way with all of the above. He wrote a note for Warner Bros. indicating a work adjustment, but before he "submitted" it as part of my WC claim, I asked him to not make any adjustment on paper, as the employer who would be paying the claim would not need to know about my WB job. I then took the original document over to WB. Yay, me!

Here are some pics of the current "progress" of my Adult Diaper Rash:

Saturday. Very itchy, very bumpy, steroids not yet "drying" it out.

today. note right knee and left ankle

put yo leg up in the air!
(left ankle, still a bit "bumpy" textured)

also today. looks worse than it feels.

back of right knee
very splotchy but not so bumpy

I've been back to my Warner Bros. gig (not guiding tours), and I'm doing okay. Was hoping to book some background work yesterday, today, or tomorrow, before I finish out the week at Warner Bros. Have decided to only take the Hydroxyzine at bedtime, since it does seem to be helping me sleep through the night without waking to unconscious scratching. It's prescribed as PRN, so that is my definition of "as needed". The Prednisone will be gone with my first meal of Thursday. I'm hoping that all evidence of the rash will be gone by end of day Thursday. It sure ain't pretty!

Have you, as an adult, ever had a case of "Diaper Rash" (or something equivalent)? How did it affect your life, and what changes did you make, either in the short-term or long-term?

"Tuesdays at Traders!"

... is what Kato Kaelin suggested we call it, our new weekly meetup at Trader Joe's. At 5 in the evening, to be specific.

Here's how it happened:

I was in Trader Joe's this evening, after my tour shift, really only looking for pears, but having already perused the whole store and visited the friend at demo. While in the produce section, I noticed Kato standing at the cereals, and I remembered the last time* I ran into him at TJ's, so I approached him again.

"Kato!" (I said, as if we were best buds from way back - HA!)
He turned, smiled, and greeted me warmly (as if we were best buds from way back). I told him that the last time* I'd seen him at TJ's we'd had a lovely "don't I know you?" conversation at checkout, and that my husband and his (Kato's) girlfriend had both stood by mortified that an absolute stranger would walk up, knowing that she "knew" this guy, but honestly, in that moment, not knowing who "this guy" was.
He laughed, said he didn't remember that incident (because seriously, why would he?), but pressing me for a description of the girlfriend, because he was fairly certain it wouldn't be the lady he's seeing these days. The description I gave sorta matched a woman he'd been involved with years ago, but that would actually make sense, in that I've only been back in LA a short while now, in the grand scheme of things.
Then he went on to ask if my husband was around this evening. He said "I'll go down the aisle he's on, and ask if he's seen emelle anywhere." (I was wearing my nametag on the outside of my jacket, having come straight from work.) One of the crew members walked up and handed me back my reusable bag that I had brought recyclables in, and Kato said, "People walk up and hand you stuff at TJ's! Cool!"
I told him that Stephen was working tonight; we spoke briefly about my job at Warner Bros.; I attempted to gracefully depart and allow him to continue with his shopping. I said something to the effect of "anyway, when I saw you tonight I had to clear up the last time," to which he presented his fist and said "Tuesdays at Traders!" somehow knowing that I would "bump" it.
Which I did, of course.

*I thought I had already relayed this story, but I couldn't find the blog post where I mentioned him by name, and in re-reading old posts, I discovered I'm only approaching my second anniversary of blogging! Who has a weirder life than I do? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Have a weird life, kids. See you on Tuesdays. At Traders. :)

This must be just like livin' in Paradise

I had three tours today. We knew the weather would be a little cooler than it's been, so we were all wearing our longs sleeves and jackets and caps, and some were wearing gloves, scarves, and knit beanies (I don't have any of THOSE yet from Warner Bros.). I didn't know to expect rain today, but the sky was overcast, so I didn't figure I'd need sunglasses.

First tour was a group of Germans who'd just arrived from their tour of Hawaii. Their group guide informed me right away that they wouldn't understand me at all if I didn't speak slowly; it's really difficult for me to guide a two-hour tour properly by speaking slowly, so I'm not sure how successful I was, at least at first. I got a lot to say, and only two hours to say it! We worked out when I'd need to pause so she could translate, and I think by the end, the Germans were pleased. The only thing they all wished they could have known ahead of time is that the weather wouldn't be as warm as what they'd just left in Hawaii. It was downright cold today.

Second tour was slightly more "whirlwind" in that they all spoke English and let me know well in advance what they hoped to see. Got back to the base camp in just enough time to take a short lunch break before the third tour.

Third tour was working out great; I'd just informed folks to be ready to take a picture (of something I was just about to specifically indicate), when Garry Marshall drove up. We were already stopped, so the tour cart got very excited, and they asked him very nicely if they could take his picture. He got out of his vehicle and stood in a spot that put our water tower behind him, and then his assistant started reaching for guests' cameras - so she could take pictures of Garry with the guests! I run into famous people all the time, it would seem, but I could not have planned a celebrity sighting better. He and his people were Just. So. Gracious. and my tour guests were Just. So. Thrilled.

... everything I had left to show them on my tour was now to be categorized as "this will be cool, but it's no Garry Marshall." After sufficient time had passed, I asked if they had all immediately tweeted and instagrammed and pinned and facebooked and whatever else the social media kids are calling it these days.  At least they still appreciated my humor! :)

Now, if I could just somehow monetize celebrity sightings so I could get my ass to Paradise! That's in Hawaii, right?

Welcome, Morocco!

You visited my blog this week! I didn't notice on the DAY you visited, but at least I saw it happened this WEEK! (I may be returning to a more regular blogging schedule this week; we'll see).

Thanks for your visit, and please come again!

And now it's November,

and the weather has officially cooled, which means that my "change of weather" allergies are in high gear again. Sucks to try to eat anything, since I have to mouth-breathe while I'm eating, and that's not pretty.

BUT, the most recent episode of The Big Bang Theory has Wil Wheaton guesting again, and I realized while watching it that it was the episode that he was getting ready to shoot when I ran into him that last time at the credit union! So, that's kewl.

Still working lots of hours guiding tours, and still working in the background of a variety of shows on my days off, and have even done a little personal assisting again lately. BUSY! That's me.

Now if only I could get rid of this eyelid twitch.

And breathe. Yeah, that'd be good, too.

Hoping to check in again here, soon, kids. Stay tuned.