Sunday, January 28, 2007

Sick and tired of being sick

Not all blog entries have to be cheerful little cups of sunshine. I need a space to bitch about how I am sick--AGAIN! I have virtually lost my voice, my throat hurts and my nose has been so stuffed, I couldn't fall asleep last night. I feel like I've tried everything--Tylenol, throat spray, theraflu, syrup--nothing works. It hurts so much and I've fallen behind on my packing.

I want. To. Die.

I hate Phoenix. I hate the weather. I hate the air. I hate how you go from a really hot outside to a freezing inside because of the AC or vice-versa during the winter. I think the ventilation system is one cause for some of my illnesses.

I just can't believe how many times I've gotten sick since moving out here. Let's count, shall we?

July--Dehydration, fever, urinary tract infection.
August & September--ongoing viral thing where I always felt dizzy, sleepless and nauseous
October--fever with flu-like symptoms
December--urinary tract infection--again!
Jan--sore throat, allergies followed by what I have right now.

You can bet I'm never putting down roots here or retiring here. I'll probably die before I get social security. Sometimes I think this city is the worst thing to ever happen to me. Of course I'll probably change my mind whenever I get better. Right now, this sick, bitchy Terry needs to say her peace.

I better have a year of no illnesses in my future!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Ali--still The Greatest for many

Yesterday, Jan. 17, was Muhammad Ali's 65th birthday and I got to see the birthday boy--thanks to work.

At 4p.m., AP's sports department in NY called my boss, Ed, and told him they got word from Billy Crystal's publicist that Billy would salute Ali on stage that night while performing his one-man show, "700 Sundays" at Arizona State. See, we only found out that Ali now lives in a very ritzy enclave of metro Phoenix called Paradise Valley. His move out here was pretty much under the radar. The presentation would happen during intermission between 8:30 and 9 p.m.

Poor Ed had to call around for a photographer. So, our staff photographer had to quickly drive straight from Tucson, two hours away, to get to ASU. After calling a couple of people in our already understaffed bureau, he asked me to go.

In a nutshell, I ended up waiting almost an hour in a sound booth behind the orchestra section at the Gammage Theater for an event that took five minutes. You can see the result here:
Billy Crystal serenades Ali on birthday

I wasn't a happy camper that I had to work late. But I'll admit, afterwards, when I processed everything I saw and the amazement from the theatergoers I interviewed, a part of me was kind of stoked that I got to see an icon like Ali. And it was pretty cool to see and hear 1,000-plus audience sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

The weirdest thing to come out of all this is that I made the AP sports wire. Dude, I suck at catching, kicking and running. The only thing I throw is garbage and that usually doesn't make it into the basket.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

A New Year is here now

And with that comes the usual catalogue of resolutions--eat healthier, be nicer, yadda yadda. Here were some of the resolutions I made for myself.

1) Find my own place. Not that I don't appreciate my current living situation, but I feel like having been here nine months and getting the lay of the land, I'm ready to graduate.
Hmmm...well...what do you know?! Done! Yes, I'm in the midst of reading over a lease for a one-bedroom condo that I've verbally agreed to rent. It's only a few miles from where I'm at now. But the neighborhood, dubbed the Biltmore, is a little more upscale. In other words, I won't be able to give a crime scene tour. It's a pretty nice complex. I'll be on the second floor and my balcony overlooks the swimming pool. There's also a fitness center. I guess making use of that is my second resolution, (see below) hehe. I think my most favorite part is that I will have a washer/dryer in my place. Yeah, my rent will spike but hey...you get what you pay for. Anyway, I'll be living there starting Feb. 1. I will be sure to send out a mass e-mail with my new address.

2) Do more physical activity. Yeah, I'm not sure if I want to join a gym. But today I will be starting the first of 10 hip hop dance classes. I saw an ad on craigslist for a teacher out in Mesa which is about 25 minutes away from me. Thank goodness it's only her kiddie classes that she asks to perform in the spring.

3) Cook and eat healthier. I know that may sound funny from the person who keeps winning ice cream but I'm really going to try and prepare my own food and lay off the junk.

4) Travel somewhere. Anywhere. The last time I went anywhere abroad was January 2005 when I went to Thailand, Japan and Cambodia. The last 18 months was spent job hunting. And after that, the only outside-CA trip I took was in April 2005 to...Phoenix! Argh!! This year, I'm determined to go somewhere off this continent.

5) Get one freelance assignment published. I don't care if it's for some little 'zine that prints copies out of someone's garage. I miss doing features. I'd like to have one feature/essay published in a magazine.

Guess that's it for now. These "resolutions" may evolve over the course of the year. But who can predict. And really, isn't that part of the fun?