Where The Hell Am I?: life

Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

An Intervention ;)

I'm getting back into the swing of the American holiday cycles. Since I've been back, I celebrated Memorial Day with a friend from college by staying on the Avalon area of the Jersey Shore and ended up in the emergency room (no need to worry, it was major but diabetes-related, so nothing new). I didn't celebrate the 4th, outside of just enjoying having some time alone. I was staying with a friend who was off on vacation and I was enjoying the benefits of just being alone. However, being near Valley Forge, PA meant I saw some great fireworks and didn't have to go very far. This was Labor Day weekend. Between work and resuming my search for work, I planned to lay low again.

However, I'm officially living in Manhattan now, and work is only one part of life. A good friend whom I went to both college and law school with had a different idea on how I'd spend my weekend. I'll admit that more often than probably is good, I like being alone. Out of habit and, I'm sure, because coping habits I developed as an only child, I just don't like going out much when things get stressful. It makes sense within the context of my life. I've had to cope with stress alone. I also find that people can be more trouble than not when you're stressed out. With having life-rocking events like my parents dying five weeks apart, I'm most comfortable coping with retreating, getting centered and, eventually, reemerging.

Right now, things are stressful: new city; new job (well, more accurately lots of freelancing); new apartment which means new neighbors and a new neighborhood to adjust to; and just a lot of searching and little tweaks adjusting to make.

What's missing there? The social element and sometimes an intervention is necessary. Thanks to my friend's peer pressure, I gave in and decided to attend a party thrown for her. I took the train up to Westchester county instead, and spent part of my Labor Day weekend with my friend, her husband and their friends. I've got to say being new to a big city like NYC, it was nice to be around people I've known for years while meeting new people too. It's out of character for me to change course, but I'm glad I did.

So those of you with solitary friends? Give them a bit of a nudge from time to time. They might not say it, but they'll appreciate it.

(I've really got to go in and fix the HTML code on this blog, but, again, I'm too busy to worry about tweaking the code right now. Just ignore the "read more" link.)

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Judgment

Illustration from The Diabetic Plan - When Your Blood Glucose Is Too High or Too Low webpage

How do I write this without coming off as preachy? I'm not sure, so I'm just going to write it.

I spent the day in Manhattan. I started off with an interview with a recruiting agency and then kicked around the city until it was time for a networking event in the evening. I didn't get back to Philadelphia until it was almost 11pm.

When I made it to the platform, I saw a man sitting down on the platform rather than on the benches. It was sort of odd. I initially thought that maybe he was drunk. It's common to see middle-aged or older men on the Seoul subway or trains drunk and on their way home after a night out with the folks from work. We definitely see drunk people on public transit in the States too. The train was set to arrive in a few minutes, and I noticed the man was having trouble getting up. I also noticed that the benches on the platform were full.

My first instinct was to help him. However, I had to think about it. What if he was drunk?

Good for me, my positive side kicked in because the competing thought was "what if the man is diabetic like me and just has low blood sugar?" There have been a couple of times where I've had very bad insulin reactions or hypoglycemia to the point that I was almost unconscious and people have thought I was drunk or sleepy rather than in the middle of a medical emergency.

I asked the man if he needed a hand getting up. Sure enough, he was sober and he did. He then explained that he had a really bad knee. Doctors have given him various explanations, but the bottom line is he has trouble with it. I explained that being diabetic, I've had people assume I was drunk when actually I needed help. Of course, people were looking. I made sure to say it loud enough so that the people around us to could hear. I do think the point must be made: appearances are often deceiving.

The man was really thankful that I helped him. The train approached and as we went to get on, he went out of his way to shake my hand and to thank me again.

It felt good. I learned. It was just reinforcement to think it through when I start to act on a negative assumption. I also hope the people around me learned that point too.

Okay, g'night.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Completely Off My Game

I've not really posted much about me or what I've been up to here in Seoul for a bit of time.

Why?

I've been busy as all get out. I'm working, but, class is wrapping up this week. I have a summer job lined up but I'll be off with nothing to do but catch up with the rest of my life in week or two.

My visa conundrum is basically resolved. I finally went in yesterday to apply for my new alien registration card. I will sit down soon and write a detailed post about what it was like to work through the new E-2 requirements. For those with local police stations in the States who issue criminal checks, I can tell you step-by-step how to get through the criminal check with the least headache. That's assuming their process is like the city of San Francisco's which is the last place in the States I lived before coming to Korea.

I'm still doing voter registration with Democrats Abroad - Korea, but I've rolled back on other activities with them. One big reason was it was getting to be way too much and putting me behind on other stuff.

I had a chance to make it down to the R-16 bboy dance competition in Suwon a couple of weeks ago and got a chance to interview Jeff Chang. That interview will find its way to the Korea Herald and when it does, I'll post it here, as I always do.

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

I also got a chance to attend show by Kim Bada's new group, the Ratios, at Club Answer. (More info on them here and a CyWorld Review - all in Korean.) I also have an interview with them coming up. The Dynamic Duo, a Korean rap duo, and a British electro-pop group called Psych or Psyche also performed at the Club Answer show.

I'm taking a writing class but have managed to get behind in my work for that. Being a perfectionist, I'm beating myself up for that and blogging rather than getting my past due assignments done. Heh...

I've also got a couple of pieces to write up for the Look to the Stars website.

In addition to all that, I've been trying to keep a semi-decent social life.

So basically, what that means is I've run out of dry cat food for my cat and I've got tons to do. I just wanted to put up a post to let you all know I'm still out there, but I'm just a bit flustered with so much to do. However, maybe now I should walk over to Lotte Mart and get a bag of cat food because I know when I get close to home I won't want to bother with it. (Don't worry, if I flake Miss Kitty has a supply of wet food to last her a bit of time.)

Life is very, very full even if my cat food supplies aren't.

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Monday, August 6, 2007

ExpatJane: MIA

Hey everyone. I've pretty much been MIA for the last few days. I've mentioned before I've got Graves' Disease which is a thyroid disorder. Basically, my immune system successfully took out my pancreas years ago which makes me an insulin-dependent (ain't the one your granny got unless she's had it since childhood) diabetic and now is working on my thyroid...oh joy, oh rapture.

That means my hyperactive thyroid has now been medicated into a docile thyroid which leaves me exhausted almost all of the time (yep, I'll tell my doctor. In fact, I see him this week). Basically, my hyperthyroidism is now hypothyroidism and, to be honest with you, I think I was happier when I couldn't sleep versus now because I sleep I all the time.

It just means I'm being patient with myself, taking it easy and dealing with the exhaustion the best I can. It also makes me feel a bit better as I'm a bit too pleasantly plump than is usual right now.

So I know I've been tagged and the Eight Things You Don't Know About Me post is coming, but everything is working in slow motion for me right now. Plus, there are some interesting stories about Korea. It's just that now all I can do is bookmark them because just thinking about translating my thoughts to words truly exhausts me.

Just a little update on why there hasn't been much from me lately. However, now it's time to schlep to the kitchen and make dinner. I'm exhausted but I have a Korean class tonight, so I have to give myself enough time to grab a caffeine packed beverage en route to class.

A good article that explains the emotional components of this disease and how it's going to affect the person with it as well as family and friends: INFORMATION FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Hopefully, if you find this and you've got someone with Graves' Disease in your life, you can understand it better.

Mayo Clinic: Graves' Disease

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Friday, October 6, 2006

A Short Hiatus

Photo: clocks (shamelessly lifted from PBS.com)

I’ve been in a state of writing paralysis because I have tons of projects coming up for school. I’ve refused to write anything for this blog until I did some work; the irony is that paralyzed me completely.

So now I’m taking another route. I’m going to write and hope that it loosens me up enough that I can get over this block and actually get some work done.

If not, there will definitely be an entry about how I failed all my courses this term, lost my scholarship and dropped out of the program.

In the hopes that I don’t fold in on myself, here we go. Let the writing begin!