The Bucket List

"Standard Nerds!" --Denhym from the IT Crowd

Voila! A beginner bucket list. Those with WAY better ideas, feel free to post them ^_^

1. Drive a Ferrari
2. Write a book that isn't self-published ;)
3. Wear my wedding dress in exotic places
4. Have a personal shopper pick out awesome clothes for me
5. Meet Laurell K. Hamilton
6. Visit Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson's house
7. Learn another language well enough to converse fluently in it
8. Live in a dream house for at least a year
9. Have a reliable pen pal for many years
10. See cancer prevention come to fruition
11. Kiss the most beautiful child in the world (mostly I'm too afraid to touch children, with all the immunities I've had to build up through different jobs)
12. See Micah cry in joy on our wedding day
13. See my brother happily married with children
14. Be a godmother

Pirate Radio!

"I'll level with you, Roy. I don't think I'd flourish in a prison environment." --Maurice Moss, The IT Crowd.

Pirate Radio!! The single most awesome non-instrumental movie soundtrack I have EVER heard!! I feel there are more songs in the movie that aren't included in the official sountrack, but that could just be 60's pop and rock greed talking ~_^

Here is a short list of the included songs:
"Stay With Me" by Duffy
"All Day and All of the Night" the Kinks
"Elenore" the Turtles
"Judy in Disguise" John Fred and His Playboy Band
"Dancing in the Street" Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
"Wouldn't it Be Nice" The Beach Boys
"Oo Baby Baby" Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
and soooo many more

I so enjoyed this movie. A teensy bit predictable, but the actors were so marvelously done I did NOT CARE!! Rhys Ifans was completely wasted as Luna Lovegood's father. I'm certain he would have been an excellent Sirius Black. Charming, just charming.

Bill Nighy never disappoints. I keep expecting him to, but he escapes my criticism in every frame, I love it!

My weekly "Date Night" with the pharmacist we're borrowing was as always nice. We have very interesting conversations. Week before last it was about how things are when the people you love are dabbling in recreational drugs, and this week it was about religion and what you seek and the differences between the Christian sects. He always makes me want to do my important reading I've been putting off, and meditations I tend to skip. Everyone should have someone like this in your life.

Coming soon, a Bucket List Blog!

哀

When I opened my Japanese kanji app, I had a million upon million words to choose from to look up. I chose this one. Out of the endless vista of verbiage, this is the one--the only one--that I wanted. I looked at my life, and what meant anything to me, and what inspires my fiercest championship, and I found it in one word.

"Sorrow".

It's something that stays with me even when I'm extraordinarily happy. Don't get me wrong, I am not sad. I am so...so happy. I love my life.

But once upon a time I experienced the deepest of sorrows. And it felt like a river I was drowning in. And. And.

Ever since then, I feel like even--maybe even especially--at my happiest times, I still have at least a finger in that river. It is like, once you've been submerged you can't let it go. You remember. You can't ignore it. You can't ever ever forget it.

This is what lives in my heart. Maybe I need counseling to get rid of it. Something that rides with you every day and has a hand in everything you say in unguarded moments needs to be examined, reexamined.

As the largest rider in my ship, the most noticeable, every time I feel that someone is looking directly at me I'm afraid they can see this, and think me crazy and unreliable for holding onto it for so long. Every time--every time!!--I immediately start crying. It's like they touched the river by looking at me, and it...leaks.

I am not completely filled by sorrow. There are other things in me. Smart things, pretty things, scary things, sweet things, blunt and cruel things... The truth is there isn't much I wouldn't do for the people around me. Even people I don't interact with outside of work.

But I do have a strong rider with me. And the rider wouldn't appreciate me turning away another person in sorrow. Sometimes I think the memory of Christ's sorrow is the greatest thing the Christian faith can give its followers. It's intransmutable on a normal basis. It is only under duress, sometimes extra-duress, that it can be used for revelation, and a meeting of the minds.

Drop Dead Diva

I thought I would hate the show "Drop Dead Diva" because it seemed extremely superficial. But my initial assessment was entirely mistaken. The heart of the matter is that a body-switch, while confusing, only lets the good in a person shine brighter.

The emotion in this series, being based around a "stupid" person, is extremely sincere and sweet. It's blinding in it's simplicity. Sometimes it hurts the heart to look at.

I really recommend it. It is uplifting and endearing, and I am in love.

Join me. This shines.

"How can I lower my prescription costs"

The number of people who do not ask this question constantly amazes me. The number of people, especially older ones, who simply pay the amazing, disgracefully high copays...sometimes I despair of the large portion of the human race. And the people that DO protest always sound extra-defensive, as if I'll not understand their need not to give all their money for one month's worth of maintenance medicines.

Please, I LOVE saving people money. Love it. Let me know if you are dissatisfied with your copay. I've probably been looking at the cash prices so long that copay numbers start to look decent.

Here's something that will boggle your mind--even though your doctor wrote you prescription for the newest, latest drug (which there are great reasons to do) your condition is by no means the first of its kind. Millions of peopel have (usually) had this condition or disease before. You must ask yourself, what did they do before this expensive drug was around?

A good example is Lexapro, whose generic name will be escitalopram. It's the new form of Celexa, generic name Citalopram.

One my father is on, and one I'm on. We basically find the results to be the same, and the only difference is that his drug comes in a usual dose of 20-40 milligrams, and lexapro is most commonly prescribed in 10-20 milligram doses.

If my copay were really terrible, all I would need to do is call my doctor on the phone and say, "I can't afford this medicine, can I be prescribed a theraputic equivalent that has a generic?" Because I work in a pharmacy, I would have several suggestions already in mind. And that's only one option. An option other than changing the drug is that the doctor could offer me samples, or even a coupon card.

The new fashion, so to speak, in medicine is coupon cards. As seen in the above picture, they bear the name of your drug (usually) and some pertinent information not unlike the information you can find on your prescription insurance card. We can do what is called a "coordination of benefits" with your refular insurance and this card to give you a much lower copay. And if it's at issue at the time, your deductible will still be paid towards (which wouldn't happen if you used a different drug plan like the WCARD, or Walgreens Prescription Savings Club).


Which brings me to my fourth and final solution. For some people, this is the best solution actually, and can treat them better than their real insurance. But to some, it's better to pay their deductible down.

The WCard is $20 a year for a single person, or $35 for unlimited family members. You cannot use the card if you're being assisted by Medicaid or things like that. But I know in my parents' cases the WCard does better by them than their own insurance, which is School Board insurance. So do keep that in mind. It won't be great if all you can have is name brands, but then again name brands will be troublesome. It's their way ;) And it DOES help on a lot of name brands, just not as much as regular insurance usually does.

Please keep these things in mind. We really do like saving people money.

Amanda and I Have Become Decorators

We are quite enjoying ourselves. Donate $5 to our cause via this site and send an address to brassyflame@gmail.com, and we shall either send you a selection, or five of your favorite design. These are hand-penned and no two will be the same. Utterly unique, and fun. Stay in touch!

Today featured what I like to call the Death Sleep. If you've never heard of this, then you are incredibly lucky. But it's more likely you're simply unfamiliar with the verbiage.

The Death Sleep, unlike comas, leaves you completely passed out as soon as your head hits a pillow. Prior to meeting up with any pillows, you'll find yourself becoming increasingly upset--displayed by tears and possibly more tears.

Once the pillow has made contact with head, the sleeper often finds himself locked into the supine position for much longer than was originally intended.

Upon waking, the sleeper generally feels weak and listless and vaguely worried that they may have just taken a tour of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory (via the scenic routes) because of the otherwise-unaccountable exhaustion in the arms and legs.

Upon waking, please eat, and return to your pillow for a healthier, regular night's sleep.

You'll Love This (1): Pens!

You'll love this!

Available from Staedtler and Amazon and Office Depot...from nearly everywhere.... Introducing the most delightful fine liners on the market right now! I bring a different color to work every day, and the scanners turn bright pink to a straight black (in case auditors later check our computer's copies). I cannot count the number of envious faces and comments I have received in the last week. If I could buy one for each friend and acquaintence, the temptation would be overwhelming. As it is, the two friends who did receive sets are completely enraptured.

As a letter writer, I was of course shamelessly angling for a return letter, but the pens themselves are a joy without the return. A fine glide and just enough pigment release, the lines aren't thick and they do not bleed through paper. I certainly recommend it to anyone for any use. But especially to brighten up a black-and-white world like mine, where things must only ever be well done for the sake of the patient's health, and a little shot of colour is just what we need in a world of grim, jaw-clenching seriousness.

In the hopes that your world gains more color every day; cheers.

Your Forgotten Medical Updates

One thing I really worry about with the general public is their knowledge of what we need to know about you.

Allergies: In the pharmacy, I SUPER SUPER SUPER need to know if you're allergic to any medications. Please, if you're going to bounce from pharmacy to pharmacy, please retain a list of your allergies and health conditions in your wallet that you can hand to the tech when you register up.

Insurance: Did you change insurances? Did you lose your last card? Is your insurance the type that changes your member number when you get a new card?

Health Conditions: Do you have diabetes, high blood pressure, are you pregnant? If you go to a doctor who is unaware of your allergy or health condition, and he writes a script that may complicate your condition, our computers CAN catch this. That's a reason to only go to one doctor or one pharmacy--don't mix it up with both. Please let at least your pharmacy know about this. Your new cardiologist might not be aware that the medicine she's writing may interact with something you take from your general practicioner. Someone needs to know it all, so they can catch possible dangerous interactions. Ideally, your doctors are aware of what each of them is prescribing you and what sort of conditions you're dealing with (even if it's not in their area of specialty).

The truth is, when you're really sick, you may not take the time to write it all down. And unless you're willing to tote all your recent bottles around with you, it can be hard to remember what all you're putting in your body. Even vitamins can interfere with other medications. Please stick with the same pharmacy. We'll keep track with you.

Bringing Work Home, Pharmacy Style

"My doctor wrote me a prescription for a new drug, and she's starting me off at a HUNDRED AND FIFTY milligrams!! I just...I was looking at it, and it seemed like such a lot for a beginner prescription of Wellbutrin. Is 150 milligrams a lot for Wellbutrin?"

The answer is no. This is an extremely common prescription for Wellbutrin, in fact, I rarely get scripts of any other kind for Wellbutrin, which is useful for a royal gamut of conditions from depression to impulse-control like smoking cessation.

To those who do not receive many maintenence medicines and may be new to prescriptions, take this into account: one adult dose of Allegra (now an Over the Counter medication as of March) is 180 milligrams of fexofenadine. That's just allergy medicine.

I encourage any readers with this question to continue their research of the drug with medical journals and the advice of doctors and pharmacists, and to rest assured--you're normal, the prescription is normal, and it will probably really help you.

That's it for today's Bringing Work Home, where I answer questions I received more than once at work which aren't a terrible idea for me to try to answer. ^_^

Gilligan and O'Malley Clothing

The first blog is supposed to be the intro. Where I tell you about me and why you should trust me.

I've never been a fan of this, simply because my own goober/b.s. meter is so very sensitive. Also, I have read A LOT of books. I've seen nearly every type of average intro... in... existence.

Let's start with the basic problem with the whole intro blog idea: if I lied to you, you'd never ever ever ever EVER know. Did you read that properly? Never! So let's just say: I have a degree in something useful, and I've traveled all over the world, and prefer reading non-fiction.

See? I might as well have said: How about let's skip that!

I'm a simple creature anyway, a total late bloomer. I'm writing this in the hopes that SOMEONE knows less than me. That, or they just haven't run into the practical teachings I've acquired in 28 years and 23 different jobs.

Did you know that, aside from your Aunt Irma (more on her later), no one writes letters? Really, I wish more people wrote with pen and ink instead of a keyboard. I adore letter writing--where have all the pen pals of the world gone? How is it that no one returns letters these days?

So here, have some coffee. It's got cream and sugar--if you don't take it that way, act polite and try not to gag.

Welcome. Let's gossip.

So! Got any new clothes lately? I have three words for you: Gilligan and O'Malley. Been to Target lately? There are some lovely clothes available! Clothing so soft and light-weight that it is a pure pleasure just to touch them in passing. Don't even ask what it feels like to wear them--there just aren't words. ~_^

I don't want to overstate this....but they have super powers. I wanted to get in shape for my wedding, but I kept procrastinating and could never get around to it. Within two days of buying these wonderful clothes, I had a very inexpensive but wonderful gym membership which I've already been to several times. Why? Why now, you say? Because the clothes are so comfortable, even working out seems comfy!!

Welcome to my blog, Simpleton Tips, the tips for utter simpletons. Join me for another update...sometime soon.