Places to see, people to go
May. 2nd, 2013 01:45 pmGetting ready for my trip next week has been interesting. It's been a really long time since I've been anywhere internationally, outside of trips to Canada which I guess don't count? But nowadays, apparently, you have to put what's called a travel memo or travel flag on your plastic, and since people pretty much use plastic exclusively now, you don't want to leave home without it. I wouldn't even have known except that my first hotel in London actually charges for the first night, and my credit card company called me with this "random check" on my card. Thinking it was some kind of scam (because they didn't explain it at all), I didn't call back, but then I was out with Snady's partner B and tried to buy dinner with the card, but it was declined, then it was declined again, and I was like shit, I better deal with this.
So that was my edumacation on international travel these days. I dutifully called all my credit card companies and debit card, also because I had no idea what any of the CC PINs were so I had to have them send me that information again. If I understand correctly, they use PINs for CCs where I'm going, rather than signatures like we do here. I'm crap with numbers, though, so I have to figure out a safe way to carry those PINs with me. I can't remember any of my passwords, either. :-( This ought to be very fun.
I also found out that my iPhone 4 from Sprint does not have a SIM card, so I cannot do international roaming. I'll have to buy a phone card or a burner phone while I'm there if I need to call anyone -- since I'm having a hard time finding anyone to meet up with, though, that's probably negligable, and I'm sure my hotels can book me tables if need be. I'd like to do at least one big afternoon tea. I bought a book called Tea and Cake London, and there are a lot of good tea shops I want to check out, but formal tea for one just seems so very sad, don't you think? Still, if I did nothing else but hop around London having cream teas wherever I can, that wouldn't be so very bad.
The big thing causing me agita right now is a play. So, my absolute favorite in the whole wide world is Judi Dench (seriously, you thought I just liked her because she's M? Mais non), and turns out she's treading the boards in the West End in a play with...Ben Whishaw. Yes, M and Q are in a play. And not just any play, it's about the meeting between the woman who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland (one of my favorite book series ever), and the boy who inspired Peter Pan. It's like this was made for me. But of course, it's sold out. Been sold out for long before I knew I was going to England. Tickets, when I've seen them online, are going for hundreds of pounds. It's been hard to locate one for my dates. They release a small amount of low-cost seats each day in the morning. However, as everyone who knows me knows, if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. I've never had any luck getting into a play I wanted to see in London, ever. I fear the likelihood of me getting a seat is small. I got some good advice on Metafilter about ways to maybe see it. But it's stressing me out fiercely. Right now I'm torn between abandoning all my food budget for a ticket I spied online, and asking the concierge at my second hotel (the first one doesn't have one, apparently) for help. But I'm only there for a couple days, so that feels weird.
Anyway. I have to stop worrying about it, because I'll make myself sick. Which I'm already dealing with because of stress anyway. Or maybe it's cancer, I don't know -- the symptoms of ovarian cancer are the same as pretty much menstruation, menopause, or stress. Handy, that. But at my recent checkup it looked like the CA 125 numbers are elevated, and that's been on my mind a lot lately. I recheck in June, but it's so hard to know if it's significant. There is no way to test for ovarian cancer, it's notoriously difficult to catch, but CA 125 markers are at least one thing you can look at -- however, people with high levels often never get cancer, and people with no markers at all show up with stage 3 cancer. You just have no fucking clue, and so it may be a largely useless test...or it could be very useful. It's impossible to tell.
Ever since sis_r died, I've been kind of waiting to see if I get it. The likelihood of a twin having the same cancer is pretty high. But it's still weird when you get that "they're still within normal range, but it's definitely higher than normal" note. I've also got some skin problems, and having had skin cancer so often, it worries me. (You're also at a higher risk of ovarian cancer if you've had multiple basal cell carcinomas, as I have.) I know there's nothing I can do till I get back, but...erg.
So that's been on my mind. The other thing that's been on my mind is that thanks to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
killabeez's mad song editing skillz, I am finally going to be able to make a vid for VVC that I have wanted to make for 15 years. It was never possible for one reason or another. The only bad part is that a) there's a shitload of source and I have to figure out how to narrow it down, and b) Sandy and I talked about it all the time, and she won't be here to see it. Which kinda kills me.
Tonight I'm getting my hair colored. Haven't decided what colors I want. I'm seeing someone different, and I don't know how good they are, so it could be interesting.
So that was my edumacation on international travel these days. I dutifully called all my credit card companies and debit card, also because I had no idea what any of the CC PINs were so I had to have them send me that information again. If I understand correctly, they use PINs for CCs where I'm going, rather than signatures like we do here. I'm crap with numbers, though, so I have to figure out a safe way to carry those PINs with me. I can't remember any of my passwords, either. :-( This ought to be very fun.
I also found out that my iPhone 4 from Sprint does not have a SIM card, so I cannot do international roaming. I'll have to buy a phone card or a burner phone while I'm there if I need to call anyone -- since I'm having a hard time finding anyone to meet up with, though, that's probably negligable, and I'm sure my hotels can book me tables if need be. I'd like to do at least one big afternoon tea. I bought a book called Tea and Cake London, and there are a lot of good tea shops I want to check out, but formal tea for one just seems so very sad, don't you think? Still, if I did nothing else but hop around London having cream teas wherever I can, that wouldn't be so very bad.
The big thing causing me agita right now is a play. So, my absolute favorite in the whole wide world is Judi Dench (seriously, you thought I just liked her because she's M? Mais non), and turns out she's treading the boards in the West End in a play with...Ben Whishaw. Yes, M and Q are in a play. And not just any play, it's about the meeting between the woman who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland (one of my favorite book series ever), and the boy who inspired Peter Pan. It's like this was made for me. But of course, it's sold out. Been sold out for long before I knew I was going to England. Tickets, when I've seen them online, are going for hundreds of pounds. It's been hard to locate one for my dates. They release a small amount of low-cost seats each day in the morning. However, as everyone who knows me knows, if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. I've never had any luck getting into a play I wanted to see in London, ever. I fear the likelihood of me getting a seat is small. I got some good advice on Metafilter about ways to maybe see it. But it's stressing me out fiercely. Right now I'm torn between abandoning all my food budget for a ticket I spied online, and asking the concierge at my second hotel (the first one doesn't have one, apparently) for help. But I'm only there for a couple days, so that feels weird.
Anyway. I have to stop worrying about it, because I'll make myself sick. Which I'm already dealing with because of stress anyway. Or maybe it's cancer, I don't know -- the symptoms of ovarian cancer are the same as pretty much menstruation, menopause, or stress. Handy, that. But at my recent checkup it looked like the CA 125 numbers are elevated, and that's been on my mind a lot lately. I recheck in June, but it's so hard to know if it's significant. There is no way to test for ovarian cancer, it's notoriously difficult to catch, but CA 125 markers are at least one thing you can look at -- however, people with high levels often never get cancer, and people with no markers at all show up with stage 3 cancer. You just have no fucking clue, and so it may be a largely useless test...or it could be very useful. It's impossible to tell.
Ever since sis_r died, I've been kind of waiting to see if I get it. The likelihood of a twin having the same cancer is pretty high. But it's still weird when you get that "they're still within normal range, but it's definitely higher than normal" note. I've also got some skin problems, and having had skin cancer so often, it worries me. (You're also at a higher risk of ovarian cancer if you've had multiple basal cell carcinomas, as I have.) I know there's nothing I can do till I get back, but...erg.
So that's been on my mind. The other thing that's been on my mind is that thanks to
killabeez's mad song editing skillz, I am finally going to be able to make a vid for VVC that I have wanted to make for 15 years. It was never possible for one reason or another. The only bad part is that a) there's a shitload of source and I have to figure out how to narrow it down, and b) Sandy and I talked about it all the time, and she won't be here to see it. Which kinda kills me. Tonight I'm getting my hair colored. Haven't decided what colors I want. I'm seeing someone different, and I don't know how good they are, so it could be interesting.
