2007 is so Last Year.

I just dropped by to wish everyone a very wonderful, healthy, funny, lovely and above all, a Happy 2008! May all your hopes, dreams, wishes and aspirations come true.

And now I am off once again. Still not sure if I’ll ever return here, it’s like I said before “Everything is open, Nothing is set in stone”. Have a wonderful year and take care :-)

My wish to you and yours!

Hi guys and gals......

It has been a while, I know, so I thought it was time to fill you in on some developments.

I am doing fine healthwise (thanks for asking). I visited my doctor again last week and I am off the meds now, but I still have to pay attention to what I eat and drink. I can have tea and coffee again (only 2 or 3 cups a day) and that cheered me up a lot. But I still have to be careful with spices, fat, alcohol and focus on portion sizes. If all goes well, I can go on with my life, but if the symptoms return, I'll have to go back and probably see a specialist :-( I am not looking forward to something like an esophagogastroduodenoscopy…….brrrrr!

I went to a Flickr Meetup the other day, which was fun. I had a hard time deciding whether or not I should go (poor weather conditions and health) but in the end I went and had fun. I was nice meeting some new people although some of them are photography nutters or as someone else called them; people with a passion!

I had a really fun birthday yesterday (thanks for all the birthday wishes). I got some nice flowers, cards, theatre tickets, a voucher to buy concert tickets, money to put in my camera fund, a dinner invitation, candles, chocolates, perfume and a nice bottle of wine.

Of course I did some other things too, and the regular life stuff happened but I am not going to blog about it……..in fact, I have reached a decision; after 2 years and 3 month and 670 posts, I am going to quit this whole blogging thing. As some of you know, I’ve been thinking about this a lot for quite some time now and I think it’s the best thing for now.
When I started blogging it was al about using and practising my English, later on I just wanted to make people a little happier and smile a bit more. I hope I’ve managed to do that from time to time. Right now I feel I can’t do that anymore, I lack inspiration and the drive that is needed.


I suspect I'll come back to blogging one day. Maybe I’ll pick up where I left off or maybe I’ll start something new. Right now, “Everything is open,
Nothing is set in stone”

So, I am off, drifting around like driftwood for a while :-)

Take care of yourself, smile a lot, laugh often, think happy thoughts, dream as if you’ll live forever and live as if you’ll die today.

Hugs to you all, and thanks for visiting my blog.
This is Dakota signing off,…… na-nu, nanu!

Comic Tuesday: It's like counting the rings on a tree.

Comic Tuesday: Trying something new!

Look what I found (#10)

Here is one I prepared earlier. Enjoy!

Sometimes you come across the weirdest stuff, like Pepsi-Ice-Cucumber for instance. You might not have seen it in your local supermarket, but it was introduced in Japan last June. I wonder what it tastes like, but since it is only sold in Japan, I guess I’ll never know. Apparently the Japanese have a thing for weird and wonderful drinks, check out this list.

If you have kids or like to fool around with paper and build stuff, this might be a site you enjoy: Readymech. Here you find box-like colourful robots that are on there in PDF format. All you have to do is print them out, cut and fold on the dotted lines. You can either use glue or tape to stick them together. If you stick the paper on a piece of cardboard before you cut and fold them, you could also create nice funny gift boxes.

For those of you who like to multitask. You can give praise and do a workout at the same time because this is gospel dance aerobics and it is full of fun and energy with moves that anyone can do!



If you are in need of a bit of Zen time, watch this short computer graphic movie called Falling Water featuring the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece. You can find more information about the house here and here


Always looking for new not so mainstream music? Take a look at Mashable. Mashable has created a music news toolbox which consists of 50+ links for discovering new music.

And finally: Don’t make fun of death…….that’s not funny!
Warning: probably not for everybody

Encounter with the paracetamol pusher.

First of all, I know I've already mentioned it in the comment section yesterday, but for those of you who've missed it, thanks for all the well wishes everyone! I am not jumping around yet, but I do feel a lot better (and I hate staying in bed) so, here is a little update.

Yesterday I went to see my doctor and that’s always a lot of fun (or a waste of time, whatever you like to call it), because most of the time you already know what he's going to say and what he's going to give you……that magical drug called paracetamol and it almost always comes with this advice: 3 times a day, for 7 days, and if that doesn’t make things better, make another appointment. So, let’s say you have done that and there is no improvement, on the 8th day you call his assistant to make a new appointment, which is always a pain in itself. She will reluctantly grant you a new appointment for the following week and tells you to keep taking the paracetamol (miraculously they always give you enough for 2 weeks). It’s almost as if they are thinking 'Hey, if it didn’t kill you the first week, it’s not going to do so in the second.' BTW, I always believe that the whole paracetamol run is some sort of test to see if you are seriously sick. But that’s how it usually goes. Yesterday was a bit of a different story.

I was lucky to get an appointment so soon, but that was probably because I’d thrown in a bit of chest pain. Nervously I awaited my turn. Not really sure why though, because I already had a vague idea what I had….a virus and heartburn and I actually did want him to give me something for the latter because the over-the-counter stuff wasn't working. I already knew you had to see a doc for the really good (or should that be bad) stuff.
Last June I had a bad case of heartburn too, at the time I actually thought I was going to die and that thought brought on a panic attack and I ended up in the emergency doctor’s office. Not nice, but quite an experience. Last week I had a milder episode, but last Monday it was back in full swing, pain in the breastbone area included, and the worst part….it wasn’t going away. Add to this all flu-like symptoms and there you have it ladies and gentleman….. a fine mess!

But back to the doctor’s office. Of course he wanted to send me away with just the paracetamol but I told him I was going nowhere until he gave me something else for the acids too, because it was haunting me like a terrible nightmare (or the bad Chinese food I had last Sunday). And strangely enough, it was almost as if someone flicked a switch, I had his full attention all of a sudden. OMG….how scary!
He asked me to tell him the full story and so I did. When I finished, he looked at his computer, typed a few things and stared at the screen for a very long time. All I could think was ‘is he writing me a prescription or is he just googling my symptoms?’ Because come on…..you never know these days! But, he actually was printing out some nice (not!) instructions and a diet list because he thinks I have some form of GERD. Oh jolly!

So here are some of the things I am not allowed to have over the next two weeks: coffee, tea, (oh, no coffee and tea….how on earth am I going to survive that…the horror!)
milk, alcohol, orange juice, sodas. There’s only one thing I can drink safely and that is……water! I can’t have chocolate, ice cream, salad dressings, cheese, anything with tomato (so no soup, pasta sauce, or pizza for instance), mint (he even suggested a mint free toothpaste), onions, garlic, pepper, (hot)spices, cabbage and cauliflower, milk, vinegar, fat.
Actually the list goes on and on, but I am not going to bore you with that. If I want to be safe, it’s best to stick to water and bread. Oh and let's not forget, I am allowed to swallow my prescribed drugs. Hooray!
Nah, it's not all doom and gloom, there are still a few things I can eat and drink; I just have to figure out which ones. And it’s not a life sentence (at least not yet) it’s just two weeks (I have to see him again).

Wish me luck, because I think I am going to need it.