Oh, the lovely Company party...

[elfs]

I spent most of yesterday hungover. Not from alcohol, but from diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in most over-the-counter sleeping aids, like Nytol™ or Sominex™. I took a full dose of the Tylenol™ brand "Simply Sleep", and I paid the consequences. At least I got a full night's sleep Tuesday night; I might have felt like crud Wednesday, but it was a fully rested crud, better than the "I haven't gotten a decent night's rest in four days" crud I was feeling earlier.

Yesterday Omaha and I were goingto go to my company's holiday party at the Experience Music Project, to which my company is a "Patron" supporter, which started at six. The plan was, tygereclipse would be home so she could watch Kouryou-chan, Omaha would bus up here around 4:30 to attend a short business meeting of her own, then head over to the EMP to meet me. At 4:50 I get a call from one of her business partners. "Uh, I called Omaha to see where she was, and when she answered the phone she sounded kinda weird. Then another voice came on the phone, her name was Kim, and they were in an ambulance headed to Highline."

Sigh.

I called Omaha's number and got Omaha. She was lucid, but she couldn't use the phone in the emergency room. I packed up my gear and headed down to get her. She was fine, dressed in a hospital gown with a blood shunt in her elbow. It was cold in there. The doctor was nice enough, but the nurse had no sense of humor. Omaha was discharged within half an hour, we headed home to pick up Omaha's meds as the doctor recommended, and then she insisted we got to the party.

I've never been to the EMP, so it was a new experience. It was nice to get in on the company dime. I don't know that I would have spent $12.50 myself just to learn that Brittney Spears' costume had very little bust, or that 50 Cent can actually sing despite his accent, or that Bing Crosby was born in the Pacific Northwest. On the other hand, it was interesting to see Queensryche in their big-hair phase, and the Dylan and Hendrix exhibits were fascinating.

And, y'know, for a company with barely a hundred employees, we have three in-house bands, none of which are terrible. The first one, from our QA group, did late 60's, early 70's stuff with aplomb and skill; the second, from hardware development, was 80's covers done rather raw, and then there's software dev, which does 90's heavy metal. Loudly. All in all, very competent. The engineer put the bass player up too high, though.

Omaha and I went home early. My ears couldn't take the volume; I usually bring ear plugs to concerts and always have. After all, they're built with mid-70's technology and their failure mode is painful and went straight to bed.

Comments

medicine

[ashegrey.livejournal.com]

Try Alieve Cold and Sinus instead of any other cold stuff. It works great and you don't get that drugged out hungover feeling.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

so, wait, why was she in the ER?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

"Being epileptic in a public place."

[omahas.livejournal.com]

"Being epileptic in a public place."

Nooooo, Elf. Sigh. It's because I had a seizure in a public place. In a private place, I'd have the seizure then, when it was over, go to bed, get some rest, and tell my neurologist in the morning.

In a public place everyone has a fit and doesn't know what to do (in this case it was on a public bus) and they called 911 and had an ambulance pick me up and take me to the emergency room. All that really does for me is to lie me in the hospital for an hour or so, waiting for Elf to arrive and the doctor to say, "you're epileptic, you had a seizure, go home and get some rest and tell your neurologist in the morning"...all of which I already know. I don't need to pay a $75 copay for that.

Ah well, it could have been worse. I could have been lacking in insurance, where the cost would have been up in the $500 to $1000 range of payment.

EMP is a fun place

[(Anonymous)]

The guitar room there at EMP is a fascinating place, it appeals to the engineer in me. I was particularly interested in the two 1800s Martin models -- if I remember, they were circa 1838 and 1886 and much smaller than the contemporary Dreadnought.

Now that I've found the active luthier community (the Seattle Luthiers' Group) here in the Pacific Northwest, I've started to build my own instrument. It'll be a Dreadnought replica, and now that I'm partway through the project I have a tremendous new appreciation for what goes into building something like that. (Now what is it about Koa that makes Martin able to charge $45,000 for a guitar?!?)

Elf, have you stopped through the Sci-Fi Museum yet? I think you'd really enjoy it. I've been through there once, and it was much more my speed than the EMP. I went through their books section going

"...damn, I wish I had my PDA or a notebook, I need to write these titles down! (...read that one, and that one, and that one, need to read this... and this... and that... etc.)"

And, while you're in the Sci-Fi Museum checking out the computerized display of different spaceships, pay close attention to the sound effects they used. It'll help if you fire up Microsoft's "3D Pinball" beforehand, it's where I first heard them! (Good for a "Heh!" geek moment.)

Bryan.

[(Anonymous)]

Why don't you just refuse to consent to be taken in the ambulance, then?

Just curious. I know that unless you're unconscious or somesuch, they can't do anything you don't consent to.