Tagged: beinglizardek

05
Jul
2025

THINGS COULD BE DIFFERENT AROUND HERE

Yesterday was the 4th of July, but I have never felt less patriotic in my life. Not even when Trump was President the first time. Not even when George W. Bush or Reagan was President. The only thing stopping me from renouncing my citizenship right now is knowing that more than half the country didn’t vote for him and is as angry, frustrated, and overwhelming boggled as me. How have we gone down so far so fast? WHY is there such a need in so many men in power to put hatred, cruelty, and power above everything else decent? I...

03
Jul
2025

DOING NOTHING AND EVERYTHING

I’ve felt a little stupid about some of the medical terms that have been flying around me for the last 2 months, and part of that has had to do with the differences in Swedish and English, and part of it was not having really thought about the differences in terms. I’ve felt that the words ‘inflammation’ and ‘infection’ seemed to be used rather interchangeably, but when I mentioned that to my doctor, he said, “Not by the medical establishment. They mean completely different things.” So I finally looked up their definitions, and like, duh, of course they are different,...

28
Jun
2025

DOING ALL THE THINGS, EXCEPT SLEEPING

Since I was in the hospital, I’ve been having trouble sleeping. Or rather, getting back to sleep after I wake up in the middle of the wee hours or middle of the night. I’ve woken at 3, 4, 5, and one particularly bad night at 2:30 am. I have to get up to go to the bathroom, and when I get back to bed, I cannot fall asleep again, no matter what I try. A few nights I manage to doze off after a couple of hours only to be awakened again to go to the bathroom. UGH. I read...

18
Jun
2025

DIAGNOSIS

I don’t know if you have ever had a medical procedure in which a camera is inserted into your body when you are awake and aware, but it is a VERY weird thing to see. I had another colonoscopy today. The last one was in October, and even though there was a screen where I could see the camera movement then as well, it was awkwardly placed and would have required me twisting my neck weirdly and because a colonoscopy is both uncomfortable and slightly painful, I mostly didn’t try to look last time, but kept my eyes closed and...

02
May
2025

FOR POSTERITY — LITTLE LIZ

When I was going through papers from my mom’s house, I found a bunch of letters she wrote to her parents a few months after I was born. She wrote to her parents every couple of weeks, and most of them are full of daily chitchat and talk about what was going on with her, my dad, and their lives. I’m copying here some of the things she wrote about me for posterity. NOTE: I was called Lisa after I was born (named Elizabeth for my dad’s mother’s middle name, or more likely, just because my mom liked the name!)....

01
May
2025

RABBITS! RABBITS!

Well, I’m writing a blog post on the first of May, which is a holiday here in Sweden, and even though I didn’t say “Rabbits! Rabbits!” first thing when I woke up, I am writing it now, and that ought to count for something. It’s been an absolute stunner of a day, quite perfectly perfect: sunny, warm but not too warm, a cool breeze, blue skies, butterflies and bees and birds singing. The neighbor’s cat came around twice but is super shy, which is a bummer. I slept in and then played games and read before doing anything of import....

26
Apr
2025

TRIP TO OREGON, JULY 1992

(When reading this, remember this is long before cell phones, Apple Pay, and baggage weight restrictions) I’m back from my first real vacation in years, 10 whole days. I had a wonderful time in Oregon visiting my best friend Becky and her husband Doug, and squashing my maternal urges with their two beautiful children: Christopher (3) and Sara (2). Lots of hanging out with kids, shopping, movies, the Oregon County Fair (quite a treat), and going to hear great live music. But the best story is about my arrival and departure from hell! I swear that everything you are about...

21
Apr
2025

POSTING AND PITCHING AND PAPERS

I have to make up for not posting at all since mid-March, right? I only wrote 4 posts in March (before I left for the US) and I’ve only got a week and a half left of April, so I’d like to at least match March. Or beat it! We’ll see. HAHA! While I was in the US, Sarah connected to my Spotify account on her phone so we could listen to my playlist while we were driving around. And just now, HERE IN SWEDEN, I am listening to Spotify’s Discover Weekly and it was hijacked by her car! I...

20
Apr
2025

POST-OP

Anders took me to the Ortho Center in Malmö on Friday morning. I had to be there at 10:30 am and he couldn’t stay so he dropped me off and went home to work on the MG and wait for my call to come be picked up. I checked in, paid (SEK 150!), and was sent up to the prep waiting room but didn’t wait at all (then). The nurse checked my name, gave me a cup of pills and a glass of water (pain medication and anti-nausea meds) and then handed me a pile of clothing and took me...

15
Apr
2025

WHOOSH—I’M BACK!

Back from the USA, and still jetlagged. I was gone for 4 weeks and did I blog once? No. No, I did not. What a lame-o. I did think about it. At least twice. But was too busy the entire time to really be motivated to write anything here. Sarah and I spent the first two weeks working on organizing and cleaning up the rest of her home after her move of her entire family and nearly every room. Her family played musical rooms, which eventually left my mom the space of a 2-room suite, plus bathroom, plus half-loft where...