Andrea Coller's Blog
so, for halloween eve, i was my exact opposite: a good girl from the fifties. it was quite the hit. i was dressed all in pink, with little bows in my hair. sonia was a renaissance lady, patty was harry potter, joe was gir from invader zim, meredith was hester prynne, and britta was a pill-popping housewife from the fifties: it was decided that i was britta's little daughter. i got to say things like, "when mommy drinks her special drink, sometimes she's funny like monkeys. other times she's sad like clowns."
i'd started the saturday, as usual, by working. everyone else at work wussed out on dressing up, and it was raining. i arrived with my shoes soaked and my feet already in bad shape. i knew it would be a long day. after work, sonia picked me up so i could cut her hair before the show. i hung out and helped out at PACE for a while, then i got a call from meredith to go out dancing at diva's. i figured it was a good idea.
folks at diva's were all sorts of decked out. it was great. i drank, meredith and britta smoked, we danced, and danced, and danced. just after the costume contest, we decided to go hang out at britta's. we were hungry and stopped for 711 baloney sandwiches and a big pickle and cherry garcia. we discovered that pregnant ladies are right: pickles and ice cream rule together.
so, of course, the red sox turned it all around, i had TOTAL faith. well, i had some doubt, but they all seemed to come through in the end. even johnny damon, jesus look-alike and ALCS hero. gotta love that dirty bunch. reminds me of the '93 phillies, who broke my heart so... perhaps this year the curse will finally be lifted.
so i've been working a lot lately, which i like, because that equals more money. on the other hand, i am generally so exhausted that i can't even think by the end of the week. i generally get two days off, but they are not in a row. so i never get that sunday morning deep slumber that comes from knowing in your inner being that you have the day off. i'm still doing the saturday slow-down on sunday morning. i think i just need to take some yoga or find some other way of settling myself down, because for much of the time, i am completely stressed out, and having chest pains and such. granted, they are mild pains, but yikes! it's scary. good thing i am constantly, annoyingly medically supervised.
speaking of which, i wrote a rather lengthy article in the new PACE magazine, which details almost the entirety of my medical fiasco of last year. so i have had a few random emails from people from my past, and a few strangers walking up to me, telling me how healthy i look. i suppose it could be much worse, they could be ex-boyfriend emails and people walking up to me telling me i look like crap. still, it is very, very strange to have EVERYONE know the details of my personal life.
so, in other news, i have signed on to do all of the hair design for the PACE production of "into the woods." (i don't know if i blogged about it, but i quit the musical early on, once i realized that i wouldn't really get to sing, with my roles as the giant and snow white.) my boss also agreed to donate the color, and my labor, so that i can totally make over the woman playing the witch, and i get to color the young boy playing jack's hair BRIGHT red. hopefully, this will cause business to pick up for me. it's coming on to one of hairdressing's slow seasons. up until the holidays it will be fairly busy, then dead after that until spring, basically. so while i sit here in the gypsy rose cafe, i will bust out my pencil and crayons to sketch out my designs. a most excellent way to be paid for my labor, without actually technically being paid for it.
any halloween plans, you ask? well, no, not really. but just in case, i bought a costume yesterday. i JUST LOVE gypsy heart in northampton, where i found a great fifties-style blouse. and then i headed over to roz's place, where i found a great dress to make into a skirt. then i went to synergy, and found a pair of shoes that would double as a costume piece and shoes that i can wear every day. yay! but no, no plans as of yet. i will likely go to woek on saturday and the PACE show afterward in my costume. what is it, you ask? well, i shall tell you that i am going as my EXACT opposite: a good girl form the fifties. :) all i need now is some pearls.
time to sketch.
i am watching the red sox now, because i am a glutton for punishment. the yankees all have devil eyes. they are evil, so the fact that we constantly lose to them is not so bad... right? plus, matsui is a ROBOT. i am convinced of this. the only time he ever does things wrong, it's just so people won't get suspicious. but i love those shaggy red sox.
so guess what i went and did on wednesday? i FINALLY got my tattoo. i am now the proud owner of a beatuteous star on my front left shoulder. it was done by
krystof at lucky's in northampton. i had actually had a long day at work, and had forgotten about doing it, until i met up with
meredith at starbuck's and she said, "so, you wanna get tattooed?" and i decided that i did. and i described what i wanted, and he came back with a drawing that was exactly what i wanted, so i did it, and it is beautiful. thank goodness for meredith, or i'd still be pining for it. she's good like that. and she said she likes me more than gyoza too. yay.
so... i'm doing right now what i've been planning on doing for a while now... i have given up sugar. and i am surviving, surprisingly. after going through some serious, serious withdrawal on tuesday, i am all right. feeling better, even. i have heard tell that going off of sugar for three weeks kills all the bad yeast in your body and you don't crave it so much. and i'm also restricted to fat free dairy and whole grains, but it makes me feel good so far, and my pants fit better. so that's good. and i'm still allowed to have my nonfat sugarfree vanilla latte, and that's what's really important.
oh, but to continue on about wednesday, meredith and i were totally badass and went to get my tattoo, then made sure we were registered to vote. (she moved, and i thought i might have forgotten to mail in my city census.) we were, and then we went back to starbucks to meet up with britta and watch the debates. we played a fun drinking game- you must drink any time anyone points with his thumb, says "liberal" like it's an insult, denies anything you distinctly remember him saying before, and other fun stuff. we made our way through quite a few bottles of sam adams cherry wheat. yum...
i have to make my voting tshirt. i'm so boring. my 'don't forget poland' was already taken. now i don't know what to do. meredith thought up another great one. "bush/cheney '04: because health insurance is for pussies." she's so smart. that's why she's in my band.
austin tour dates will be posted as soon as i get them.
so, everything's a little nutty today. i have a feeling that we've been cursed for "celebrating" columbus day. i'm surprised that worse things haven't gone on, even. but i think the bad karma should be reserved for those who are unaware of the stupidity of celebrating columbus day. what have i done wrong?
must have been something. perhaps it was the crazy little parade they had in northampton, complete with the likeness of christopher columbus (i surmise) on a white horse that did me in. for some reason, the bus never came, and i was forced to be an hour late opening up the dear little gypsy rose cafe. but yeah, i was pissed for a little while until i chatted with a few customers, made hummus, and then made myself a black-and-white capuccino. things are a little better.
so i went yesterday to lucky's in northampton to get a tattoo. i hear several of you going, "dear god, why??" i will tell you why. but before i do, i will tell y'all that i actually do not have a tattoo yet. they were closing early, and there was no time. so, i am supposed to call today for an appointment. anyways, back to why i am getting a tattoo: mainly because i want one. and i even, sometimes, feel that i need one. originally, i wanted to tattoo over one of the many scars that reside on my chest. however, my sister's ex, who is a tattoo artist, said that it was impossible to tattoo over a pink scar, that it would not hold the ink. damn. but then i got to thinking about it. i thought about the permanence of those scars and how you could almost make a constellation out of them. so i have decided upon a small star shape (more of an asterisk type star, not the star shape that everyone and their dog has) in red ink, to symbolize that it, itself, is a scar, and part of the constellation.
so if you still think it's stupid, just thank the dear lord that i'm not getting a tazmanian devil waving a nascar flag on my ass.
so in other terrible news, christopher reeve is dead. the horrible people that make up the headlines at AOL news immediately blasted me with SUPERMAN IS DEAD when i innocently checked my email this morning. it really, really saddens me to know that such a tough person was forced to succumb to a horrible health problem, because of the ignorance of a few powerful zealots. i am often asked, when i tell people that i have had a stem cell transplant, what that means, and isn't that illegal? no, it was not, because they were ADULT stem cells, and my own. it is amazing what stem cells can do. i had virtually NO IMMUNE SYSTEM, and within a month, i was almost fully recovered. they are miraculous things, stem cells are. and it's an absolutely terrible statement about the state of our country that we are not using all of our resources to heal our citizens: that we are consciously blocking people from receiving potentially life-saving treatments. it does not make sense, and it is not right at all. this is yet another reason to VOTE next month. at the "town hall format" presidential debate, all w could keep saying was "destroying life, blah blah blah..." regarding the use of embryonic stem cells. what is it to let fully formed persons waste away when the technology exists to heal them? all for the political support of the religious right. it makes me sick. and it is nothing, NOTHING, but "destroying life."
so now i'm chilling in the gypsy rose cafe, having put "the first ladies of song," one of my favorite cds, on in order to calm myself further. i will keep you all posted on the progress of the tattoo. we'll see if it happens today...
so the post cat-scan haze is lifting, or beginning to lift. i didn't get the usual, "hi there, everything is ok," phone call from the doctor, but i'm sure it is ok, as the PET was negative and all. fingers crossed.
so when i was waiting in the little room drinking my disgusting barium drink thingie, there were three other people there drinking their little drinks. they were all older, and pretending it was cocktail hour. when we had to drink a new cup (every 15 minutes), the old man would say, "nazdrovia," as though we were drinking vodka. they were good people, fun to spend time with. i know they were all sad for me, being so young and all. they even thought i was in high school. (yay, i guess i don't look old!) but it's so cool when people can come together who normally wouldn't.
when i got into the actual scan part of the cat scan, the nurse that came in to access my port was the same nurse that stayed by my bedside all of last winter when i spent time getting chemo at cooley dickinson. she remembered all sorts of details about my family and was way nice. it's always goood when the staff really cares. i love nurses. it's the doctors that suck.
so i just came home and watched the red sox kick ass, and am now hoping that john edwards will follow suit. dick cheney is an ass, but unfortunately, is intelligent, so it won't be the general floor-wiping that john kerry gave w, but i think it will be fun to see the southern gentleman smooth-talker win over people as the cranky old man gets mad.
time to pop some popcorn and get ready...
so i must apologize to the folks (yes, mr. president, this is what a "group of folks" is...) who read my blog daily, or try to do so. the past week has been very busy, with work and various medical bullshit going on. but do not fear, the news so far is good news, or as good as can be expected.
tuesday i went for my PET scan at picturesque holyoke hospital, arrived at the asscrack of dawn, and was finishing up just as i woke up. unfortunately, my brother, who was supposed to meet me there at 9:30, overslept and woke just as i was finishing (thank the dear lord for cellphones), so i walked in the downpour to the building that houses the little coffee shop and sat there watching the nuns in dirty habits (wow, what a great song title) glare at my short skirt. I, however, was perplexed, because i was wearing jeans underneath it, therefore not exposing myself, therefore not a trollop. but i suppose one mustn't wear jeans to a hospital- somehow that's improper. i say fuck you, sister, i'm a cancer survivor, i don't _have_ to do anything. that usually works for people without too much argument.
i'm at pace now... had to go change the cd. a wonderful yet horribly depressing song called 'execution by christmas lights' was on, so i put on the nields' gotta get over greta instead. much more cheery and cafe-esque.
but anyways, while i was shopping off the nasty morning on tuesday, in the dressing room at old navy, i got a phone call from my local oncologist saying that the initial report from the PET was completely negative. i said thank you, zipped up the jeans, checked out my nonexistent ass, and put my street clothes back on. i thought then that, in the movie version of my life, i would have broke down crying in joy, music would have started playing, and the old navy fitting room attendant would have come in to check on me. i would have explained it to her, she would have cried too, and we would have become lifelong friends. instead, i just handed the jeans back to her as the bizarre new cover of "car wash" blared on the sound system.
so, like everyone that cares about politics, i watched the presidential debates on thursday night. i was so ridiculously happy that john kerry wiped the floor with president dumbfuck. he didn't pull an al gore, he proved how much smarter he was, yet was completely clear and concise. bush used 'vociferous' wrong, and proved just how much of an idiot monkey-boy he is. meredith and i were possibly going to do a pro--vote gig at starbucks, where she wanted to make a "kerry me" t-shirt to wear. i plan to get her that shirt, and make one for myself that says, "don't forget poland." there are only a few more days to register to vote, so if you haven't had the chance to, do it NOW!! my brother registered on mtv.com, and YOU CAN TOO!!
so yesterday, i was about to embark on a marathon day at the haymarket, working on my novel. instead i got a phone call from my buddy joe to come apple picking. i thought about it for a second, and then agreed. for once in my life, i should choose the "outdoor" option, i thought. it was a warm--ish fall day and GORGEOUS here in northampton. joe and i picked up sonia at her house, and then went out too outlook farms on route 66 in westhampton. if you have never been, you simply MUST go. they have a cute little country store, and you get a 1/2 bushel bag to fill with apples for only like 12 bucks. (we're pretty sure it's just that expensive cause they know you're going to eat your fair share while you're out there.) sonia and joe got me to climb the first tree of my life, which was a little difficult to do in flip-flops, and being that i am so weak and prissy. but i made it halfway up, not bad, i thought, and we picked our fill of appples and enjoyed the sunshine. i took pictures on joe's camera, just to prove to myself, just to make a permanent mark of how the sun shone through the tree branches and onto sonia's hair while she picked queen anne's lace and clover. usually a city girl, i enjoyed nature that day, and today i am making apple crisp at the gypsy rose cafe at pace. the particular recipe is a spin on a recipe from one of the former governors of west virginia. ah, the things you can find online...
oh yes, and saturday, pace had its 2nd anniversary celebration, with steve biegner and the 50 ways. it was too bad we were competing with the nields at the iron horse, as well as deb talan and steve tannen being in town somewhere else. but we still got a decent little crowd and made a little moeny for pace. and that's always good.
time to go coook something. i promise to try to be better at this whole blogging thing....
