mrs-roboto's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They Say The Neon Lights Are Bright I am heading to NYC again on Friday to hang out with my grandmother. She's been undergoing chemotherapy, not to cure her of the cancer but to contain it. Unfortunately, some of the side effects seem just horrid. For example, she seems to have gone completely deaf. My daily phone call from the office consists of me screaming things like "have you had a bowel movement today......no I asked if you have had a bowel movement.......A BOWEL MOVEMENT, I SAID" so that all my coworkers can keep track along with me. My mother says she's lost her hair too which had stayed a beautiful strawberry blonde right up to it's disappearance. She has no appetite and is exhausted all the time and she's growing tired of the constant supervision by her aides. I can't say as I blame her. I'd hate to never have a moment to myself and it looks as if she will live out the rest of her life that way. I'm having anxiety about visiting New York again so soon too. I usually have a six month recovery time between visits in which I purge myself of the overstimulus of the area. I was talking with Lauren about this today. The noise, the movement, and most of all the lights get to me. Why oh why must every bodega cover itself in florescent neon? There's a shop on every corner, calling attention to itself with blinking and dizzying signage, one more tacky than the next. Each vendor looks like a strip club with it's flashing and throbbing bulbs. The car service by my parents place looks like the Lusty Lady in Seattle, I keep waiting for there to be a peek-a-boo show in the window while I wait for a cab. It's all seems so unnecessary, so ostentatious. It certainly doesn't create the kind of environment in which I want to spend my money. More likely, it makes me want to run and hide. The funny part of all of this is that I never noticed how in-your-face this kind of advertising was when I lived there. I went to these stores without flinching. I was unaware of how this type of stimulation was working on my nerves. As a matter of fact, one of the jobs I held in NY was as a sales associate for a sign maker. Back then we had a saying - "the more flash, the better." All of our clients wanted neon and blinking lights with hundreds of bulbs. Bold florescent colors and huge print was the norm. It makes me head hurt just thinking about it. Did I mention my job is kicking my ass and that it will continue to do so till February? Today my coworker and I got our periods within an hour of each other. If that isn't an indication of working somewhere for too long, I don't know what is. Deep breaths. Okay, a list of good things coming down the pipe:
I feel better. Signing off till next week, -Mrs. Roboto 6:34 p.m. - 2003-10-08 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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