More on the injury... Straight from my inbox!

From my inbox: It seems like you've lost everything you ever knew, (RIGHT)?

No, not really. I remember before the accident. I don't really recall a lot after the accident. But before, I remember prepping the boat, I remember the sailing lessons, I remember Sailing Instructor Steve telling me to tighten the main. That's about it though. The days between, I am really fuzzy on and it seems I am having issues making new memories. Hopefully that will improve though. I do have a journal I am carrying around and I write in it every couple of hours or when I have a moment. Nothing huge... just quick notes.

Here is a sample: "Made tea for hubby, use less coffee in espresso maker. Watched TV with boys in game room. Waiting for laundry to dry. Laundry in dryers closest to game machine. Found small blue thumbdrive, putting it in my cherry bag."

Some are there to hopefully jog my memory. Some are there to remind me of things. Some to let me know what I was doing. Some are for symptoms. I also write down what I eat to make sure I am eating and doing so healthy. Sometimes I have trouble remembering if I ate.

This journal is really helpful. It helps me to see what I am doing and I am reading things I really don't remember doing but am glad I wrote it down to read it later.

Another Inbox Comment: You should sue!

Who should I sue? It was my boat! It was equipment malfunction! Sailing Instructor Steve did a great job and I can't hold him responsible because MY boat malfunctions. There was no way we could have known the boom was going to fall on my head. You guys are just so litigious! Wait here while I go fill out a police report on myself for having a boat malfunction. I should take Steve to lunch for checking to make sure I was okay and for doing a great job.  I knew very well going into sailing what things could happen. There are those list of things that COULD happen that no one really expects.

Sharks taking a chunk out of your hull... Not likely going to happen, but it did happen to a Navy ship years ago.

Boom swinging and bumping you into your head... could happen if you aren't paying attention.

Getting run over by an aircraft carrier... Only if you don't know what you are doing.

The mast falling over... Well, I actually saw it happen before but the boat was old and in serious need of repair.

Capsizing a larger boat... it does happen but you REALLY have to work at that. And everything has to be working against you.

Boom's topping lift malfunctioning dropping the boom onto your head... Not likely... but it did happen.

It's really not something I would worry about. It's like worrying that your porch is going to collapse each time you go out onto it. Or maybe that your house will explode each time you turn on the gas. Better yet, it's more like the walls will fall out when you close a window. I am sure it happened somewhere... but it isn't likely to happen.

Dotchi (No, I am not suing)

My name is Dotchi. I have 2 kids. I live at the Marina.

Since my head injury, it has been interesting. I can remember things
that happen today, some of yesterday and the day before that is a bit
fuzzy. Beyond that, I can remember things but can't tell you what day
they happened. It's all rather vague. It is frustrating in one sense,
but kind of neat in others... like finding notes from myself that I
don't remember writing. *insert twilight zone music*

This morning was exciting because I woke up and remembered that it was
Sunday, February 24th without a lot of prompting. I can recall some of
yesterday... Saturday... went on a date with hubby! I remember we ate at
the Wine Vault and Bistro... Had the BEST Grand Marnier Creme Brulee!
Friday... Kids consultation at school, they got haircuts afterwards, we
ate out somewhere, I had a Doctors appointment... I have a concussion
and am going to see a neurologist, no driving... and then *poof*
nothing. Thursday and beyond, I draw blanks... or memories that I am not
sure when they happened.

I AM getting very organized though. I have the palm pilot out and
reminders are going off every hour. I have sticky notes everywhere. Lil
Mendel said the boat was going to look like a pinata when I finished
LOL. All surfaces are covered with them. I still stare off into space at
times but not as bad (I don't think) and I don't stay as confused for as
long as before. It's just really weird for me. I lost about 2 weeks. Man
talk about disconcerting to wake up and it's weeks later than you think.
Freaky! I even had a notebook with "My name is Dotchi, I have 2 kids, I
live at..." and instructions for if I couldn't answer or was lost.
Yeesh! I haven't gotten lost though.

My alarm for evening routine is beeping at me. Will try to update again
when I remember to add it to my list :)

Dotchi

People We Have Met...

I got an email asking about the people we have met here. Are they nice?
Who are they? What are they like? So, I am going to go down the list of
people we have met here... I may skip a few but it would get really long
if I added EVERYONE.

Let's see, there was Hoppy, Phil and Bob (Dave?) over at the ASW base.
Hoppy was an older guy, long hair and beard, graying, reminded me of a
hippie. He's a really cool guy. I have a wonderful picture of him and
Mendel 2.0 sitting in the grass examining flat worms Mendel 2.0 found
under a rock. He is a really laid back kind of guy. Phil came to his
boat on weekends and hung out. He was in a car accident last year and so
we didn't see him for a bit but he seems to be doing fine. He loved
chatting with Miles and Mendel 2.0 also. He is a casual kind of guy too.
Bob (Dave?) was a guy that came to his boat once in awhile. He chatted
and he was really a nice guy. Then there was the couple from Northern
California that came to their boat and they were very nice... actually,
everyone over there was really nice.

In the RV park, we met Robert, Joanne and Sean. They are the assistant
night hosts of the park. Robert does maintenance, Joanne works in the
Chandlery, and Sean is a kid who hangs out with the boys. Robert is
goofy and loves picking on people (not maliciously though) and Joanne
likes to crochet, read, wood work and I hear she also writes. Sean goes
to traditional school out here, plays soccer, and is a normal boy. They
are real nice (love that adjective!)

Jim and Claire are the night hosts. Jim likes model planes and biking.
Claire... hmmm, I dunno. But I know who I can go to for my tax returns
:) I'll have to get to know her better. And... you guessed it, they are
real nice too.

Rob works in the Chandlery too. He has a lot of tattoos. My favorite
ones are the lip mark tattoo on his neck and the palm tree on his arm.
He's fun to talk to and he laughs at me for using "$5 words". Heeheehee,
He is real nice too.

Brandon is the head dude out here. He has a wife that is due any day
now. He's very laid back and cool and listens to us when there is a
problem (there isn't usually). He's a real nice guy too.

Mitch and Sean work in the boat house. Don't know them too well but they
seem real nice.

Curt is the dock master and races his boat named K.I.S.S. in races
around the harbor and further. He has some pretty cool looking trophies
in his office, including the least tern that he ran over with his boat.
Heehee Just kidding. He totally cool! Ha! Thought I was going to say
real nice, didn't you?! And he's real nice too. There, I said it.

Sailing Instructor Steve is the sailing instructor here and his name is
Steve, hence the name "Sailing Instructor Steve". No really. He is great
with the kids in sailing camp. He's so totally optimistic that it's
scary. He's ALWAYS happy and bubbly and positive. You could capsize the
boat and he claps and yells "Good job on the free swim!" If my blood
sugar gets too low I go chat with him. He's just dripping with nicety
nice sweetest and good, clean jokes. He's not just real nice... He's
super floater nice with a beam-reach of fun sparkling positivity nice!
:-D And that is really hard to beat.

There is Bek, Justin and Ra Ra. They are vegans and are really fun to
play mad libs with. They have great recipes too. Cool boat. They are
positive fun people to be around too. But more of the adult nature of
fun. They are real nice too.

There is UNCLE BOBBY! who lives on a boat out here. Pretty cool guy!

Then there is Johnny. He is a live aboard here. He is a fun guy to talk
to also. Doc is the guy at the guest dock all the time. He has a pirate
ship! Heeheehee, and he sounds like a pirate too when he starts saying
"Argh, ya little scallywags!"

This is really all I feel like typing right now, my head is starting to
hurt again. So off I go to surf the net... ah, I mean, I am going to
clean. Yea, clean. That's it.

Now that I know it works...

Nothing exciting is happening out here in our part of the world. Oh, wait! I just thought of one... It's RAINING! Or so they say. I thought someone sneezed. Sometimes the "rain" falls and other times it just lingers in the air.

I dropped a boom on my head. Actually, I didn't drop it so much as it malfunctioned. Technicalities don't really matter when everything is twinkly and swirling around you. But I am getting better now. The last week is spotty. Apparently I got mouthy with some guys at the campfire one night. I don't remember that at all. I was so embarrassed when he told me how I rude I was. He thought he had said something rude... Oh me. I apologized profusely. We had a good laugh over it. But... OI!

Oh this is cool! My new email program (Thunderbird) has spell checker on it. It is catching all my misspelled words as I misspell them. 'Scuse me for a second, I can't resist...

I half a spelling checker
It came wit my PC
It clearly marks four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin nut sea.
I've ruin this poem threw it
I'm shore you're please two no
It's letter perfect in it's weigh
My checker toll me sew.

The sad part is, I doubt few people will catch it. Oh well. I had fun with it. I am not sure who wrote that poem but I think it's SO funny.

Okay, off I... it doesn't recognize "okay" as a word... Hmmmm. Interesting.

Well then, off I go. I will be updating tonight after science! WOOHOO!

Dotchi

I am back and my computer is humming!

I am back! How exciting to be back. I can't wait to get writing. I am
testing to see if this email program will post to the blog correctly or
look like someone sneezed words onto the screen. I once had the blog
post come out
looking
like
this
with
every
word
on
it's
own
line.
Very annoying! I am making sure nothing like that happens. So how is the
world with you all?

Dotchi

Just a quick note before I vanish...

C minor *poof*

Seriously... My computer died. I guess I touched it or something. Maybe I breathed on it before with morning breath or something, but it totally died. Like, it's GONE! I'll be okay. Hubby is fixing it for me. I guess I'll have to do things like... I dunno, clean, cook, wash clothes. Perhaps I'll even learn something unusual while the withdrawal jitters wear off.

Anywhoodles, the boys are doing great. Lil Mendel is going through a moody phase. Happy and bouncing one minute and crawling into the deepest darkest parts of the boat and moping the next. I suspect some kind person is giving him candy with red dye. I can't prove it but MY children are NEVER moody! HA!

Miles is going through the stinking feet stage. The odor of his shoes endangers small animals, clears sinus passages and peels paint from the wall. There MUST be an end to this stage. Perhaps I could just amputate while he sleeps? Lysol is my friend.

So, now I am off to go find some habit to fulfill my lack of computer time... I think I'll practice splicing lines. I did well on my fifth one. The first was wild looking. Not sure what it was, but it wasn't a splice. Or, maybe I could go to the library! Man, my email is going to be so full! I have 5444 in my spam filter. I am NOT sorting all those things!

Toodles, Dotchi

The Difficult things...

I am trying to write for my writing class. I am finding it very
difficult since I find myself writing about Leslie in some aspect or
another. So I decided to write about the night she died. This is like
salting wounds and learning they never healed. It is still so painful,
but now I really want to write about it and share the story more than
before. I think it would be therapeutic if I did even with as painful as
it is. I miss her so much and I still think about her constantly. Deep
down I feel like I let her and Penny down.

I know she died and I don't really blame myself for that... but Penny.
Oh man did she suffer. She was tortured for 2 hours. I could have drove
there in that time (but I had children to watch). Why didn't the Police
show up a lot sooner? What if I didn't call and pester them? Would they
have ever gone to check on them? What took them so long anyway? I miss
her. And I wish I could have spared Penny the 2+ hours of torture that
she endured. I wish I could bring Leslie back. I wish I had gone
instead. I wish I had insisted she take a loaded gun... or something. I
missed Leslie... I feel for Penny... I wish I could change what happened
and I wish I didn't feel so much grief and pain deep inside. I wish I
had some one who understood what I was going through that I could talk to.

Grieving sucks. I just wish I could move on with my life.

Hello people!

I am so jealous! I heard it is snowing in New Mexico. Now I am jealous.
I want snow. All we have is wind and spit-drizzle they call "rain". I
should add to the definition of rain, that the "any amount of
precipitation" doesn't actually have to hit the ground. Although it is
today. Well, I must run and work on my writing assignment. It was due
two days ago and I still haven't been able to get it done... ooops.