Blow, don't suck

Well, just as life was getting almost normal (whatever that means) ...

Hoofing the pug along Nepean Highway between Rosebud and McCrae, things got kinda weird last Tuesday night.

I think they must have got weird in a succession of seizures, because I had already pulled over once near the McCrae lighthouse (I remember I couldn't read a text message) before pulling back out onto the road, coming around Anthony's Nose and there: police had set up a breathtesting station right in front of me.

Whatever was going on was not General Seizure, I did manage to operate the machinery fine while being instructed into the little station the whallopers had set up: indicating, slowing, coming out of gear, stopping and all that. But the police officers knew something was up when this bloke with dilated pupils, glazed over look of emptiness and apparently no capacity to speak sucked on the breath-testing device instead of blowing (I know I know, but you're only allowed to laugh AFTER the MRI results!)

Three times they tried before they got a reading that indicated I hadn't been sinking pots all arvo at Stella's. Along the way they also used one of their indicators to tell them I wasn't strung out on disco bikkies or hydro.

I'm guessing the tegretol found in the car search gave them the answers they needed, and for the next 20 minutes I sat on the sea wall with a copper, really trying to answer his questions, but with total disconnection from speech.

By the time an ambulance came to take me to Rosebud Emergency for the mandatory 4 hours of observation, I was able to chat with the coppers (highly embarrassed) and thank them profusely for their empathy throughout what was the biggest 'episode' in two and half years.

Won't be driving in a long time.

And one day it might even be funny that of all the places in the world to have a seizure my right temporal lobe chose a police booze block. It'll also be funny to think what they made of my beekeeper's smoker in the back of the car: because I saw later that they pulled it apart to find only charred gum leaves, not what they'd perhaps expected.

Having another MRI in a few hours to determine whether growth of the mass had anything to do with this big and prolonged episode. If not, and it was just what neuro calls "a more active phase" of the epilepsy, then I might be able to chuckle ... and write the Rosebud coppers a thank-you letter for their patience in dealing - with great empathy - with what they must have thought was a complete moron.

Renovator's delight going cheap ... inspect now with online walk thru

'No noticeable difference'

Good stuff to hear - 'no noticeable difference' in 2 years.

There's a slight narrowing of a blood vessel adjacent to the mass, not a cause for concern. There are also a couple of fluid spots, not a cause for concern either. Neurologist doesn't feel he needs to see me for another six months, and no MRI for another 12 months to keep an eye on it. His 6mth update report to VicRoads states that he considers me "an acceptably low risk" to continue driving.

Liver function test also as expected: a lowering of one particular enzyme indicates liver is working harder than normal, and there's a slightly lower than normal white blood cell count. Both are indicative of taking 800mg of Tegretol per day.

We had a little family celebration with a Cambodian lunchtime feast at the Purple Orchid in Springvale.

...I start Yoga again on Monday.
Atlas comes out later this afternoon. There is MUCH to do/see out there.
May get that tenor sax octave key fixed.
(...and sorting out my superannuation doesn't seem like such folly.)

Fragil- or perhaps a pint of Harden the Fuck Up

A beautiful weekend camping down Foster way with Kim, Nix, Andy, Anna, Felix and Pearl - in magnificent Victorian autumnal weather ... grand times and many a laugh (kids pretty harsh with their letter to the Easter Bunny though).

Results Friday.

It's Wednesday night and I've had my 3rd glass of the local pinot gris.

Having a YouTube night on the couch -it started with toe tapping Mumford and Sons (the 4 part Gentlemen of the Road series), moved to their bookshop session of Lion Man, and somehow ended up at Sting, Fragile (went looking for a live version with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra).

Of course I should go to bed.

BUT, it occurred to me that another possibility for a 'bigger' result of the MRI is pull up stumps and sit in a Portuguese fishing village with no other aim than to learn the Fragil guitar solo, and learn it well.

Then it also occurred to me that Drama Queen sneaks in under the second glass. Down Gippsland way - Foster Pub, Toora Pub out Wilson's Prom Country - you'd get a whack on the shoulder about now and told with a wink you might need a pint of Harden the Fuck Up.

Sage advice. Bed time.

Trying to smile in General Electric's tunnel of love

And the big wheel keep on turning, neon burning, up above
And I'm just high on the world...

MRI time last Friday night.

...now the wait for results.

'Bigger' = a big walk someplace.
'Smaller' = a party and bonfire rumpus that you'll be able to see and hear across the Pacific.


This is about 4th time in the big breadmaker with its crazy sounds - it's not a Friday night outing anyone would elect to do, and like any unpleasant task injecting some sort of fun can alleviate the anxiety and stress of it a bit.

...She put her hand in my pocket, I got a keepsake and a kiss
And in the roar of dust and diesel, I stood and watched her walk away

Other times I've regressed to 8 years old (not difficult some might say) and cast a role for myself in a new Star Wars, having commandeered Luke Skywalker's pod, shooting off to some bizarre planet.

...It helps to smile.

She said you are the perfect stranger, she said baby, just keep it like this

This time I got a grin courtesy of ancient Knopfler ... though you're not allowed to tap your feet in this General Electric Tunnel of Love.

And girl it looks so pretty to me,
just like it always did
Like the Spanish city to me, when we were kids




...and now i'm searching through these carousels and the carnival arcades
searching everywhere from steeplechase to palisades
in any shooting gallery where promises are made
to rockaway rockaway ...

Get Better Bear wants back to HDU

Brand new kitten to Get Better Bear: "wanna play?"

Get Better Bear to self: "Shit ... life was a whole lot easier back in High Dependency Unit"

Notes from Hobart-Mornington birthday voyage ...

Started my 40s at Joker helm on the 9pm-1am watch reefed down with #4 up (for comfort not necessity) doing 9s off 20 knots in signature Bass Strait confused slop with the occasional surf - about 20nm off Cape Liptrap bearing 294 for the port phillip heads - wouldn't be dead for quids!

Two miles off sorrento backbeach, about to enter port phillip and head 32 deg for home stretch to mornington - 30ish dolphins just torpedoed in and surrounded boat to say happy birthday - life is grand.

If I could only capture a night pic of dolphins bursting out of black sea almost within arm's length, no moon - exploding in green phosphorescence like star burst fireworks. Will have to consult sister Em on the execution, will have to sign up for more ocean time for the opportunity.

Made it

4 days, 19 hours, 4 minutes and 17 seconds

Arriving at Constitution Dock ...
Pic courtesy of superb Hobart hosts John and Allison, who made it their mission to fatten me up again.



And below ...
Roll cloud, only the second I've experienced at sea - the sort of front that says reef down, get the four up and hang on for a right belting.
Picture courtesy Rolex Sydney Hobart - Carlo Borlenghi images