Life is a Cabaret at Sunnyvale Community Players!

Me and the gang went out to see Sunnyvale Community Player's production of Cabaret on Saturday night and we all had a great time!

It's interesting to see a show with such a small staff. Lee Ann Payne doubled as director and choreographer (no easy task, given the complexities of the choreography in this show) and Dan Singletary was music and vocal direction. It seemed to me that this gave them a better way to focus their efforts and the results were a seamless production that was beautifully staged.

As I've said before, one of my favorite things about seeing shows with the Sunnyvale Community Players is that the actors and actresses are not typically mic'ed, leading to a amazingly rich and rewarding sound.  We could hear the gentle shakes in Emily Bliss's voice as she belted out the title song, Cabaret, as the lead of Sally Bowles. While her emotion was clearly written on her face, hearing the subtlety in her voice made the number that much more enchanting.

Dan Singletary did a great job balancing the orchestra with the vocals - I could hear both perfectly at all times!

The Emcee, Paul Araquistain, was just downright amazing! Every time he appeared, the stage brightened (or darkened, depending on his intent) and the cast just seemed to focus around him.  One of my favorite numbers was "Two Ladies", where Araquistain was joined by Cheryl Ringman (Kit Kat Girl/Susan) and Denise Lum (Kit Kat Girl/Ting Ting).

The costumes were sexy, where necessary, and total period otherwise. Great job by Ana Williams (costume design), Sue Howell, Mary Beth Buzzo and Barbara Morgen (costume construction).

It's hard to call out specific actors or actresses that stood out, as everyone was great, totally in character, always in the moment. Very impressive, indeed!

I'm not exactly sure which revival this one was based on, but did miss the darker ending of the last version I had seen.  Let's face it, Nazi Germany was not a fun place for homosexuals and Jews in the early 1930s...

One thing is for certain, this show only runs for one more weekend (through May 15th) and deserves a sold out house! Treat yourself, you'll enjoy it!

Punctate Inner Choroidopathy -Or- My Crazy Eye

Those of you that follow me on twitter are aware I've been having some major weirdness in my right eye over the last couple of weeks.

As someone that has always had bad vision, losing my eye sight has always been my biggest fear. Having an eye do strange things where one Ophthalmologist even said, "I've never seen anything like this before" ... well, it's disturbing, to say the least. I waver between wanting to share with everyone what is going on to just wanting to be left alone and hope for the best, so please understand.

About two weeks ago, I noticed a blurry/fuzzy spot in my vision. I called Kaiser, where fortunately I had already been referred a few months back to Ophthalmology due to 2 spots my optometrist detected on my retina [1]. My optometrist was concerned that I might have Presumed Ocular Histoplasmois Syndrome (POHS) - blood tests confirmed, though, that I did not.  My doctor in ophthalmology told me to come back in 6 months or if I noticed any vision changes. That brings us back to two weeks ago.

I was initially told I'd have to wait until May 10th to see someone, but as every day I had new flashes and fuzzy spots, I didn't want to wait. I showed up at the main hospital and sat until my ophthalmologist was able to see me (he took me on his lunch break). He ordered lots of tests: OCT (retina scan), Optomap (picture of the back of the retina), Visual Field Assessment (fuzzy spots and flashing lights cause problems with seeing little tiny dim flashing lights in peripheral vision...it turns out), and an optical angiogram (where I was injected with yellow dye, dilated and more pictures were taken of my eye to check for bleeding - there was none -  *whew*).

Still, my ophthalmologist was stumped. He could see there were things going on in my retina, but it was nothing he'd ever seen before.  He sent me to a retina specialist for my next visit.

My retina specialist has seen something like this before: Punctate Inner Choroidopathy (PIC for short!). I'd give you a link to a great sight on this eye disease, but... none exists. It's a very rare condition that nearsighted, healthy women in their thirties get.  My specialist gave me a great paper on it, published in the Survey of Ophthalmology in January 2011 by Dr. Radgonde Amer and Dr. Noemi Lois.  Unfortunately, the major conclusion of this paper is that PIC needs more research.

There are no known treatments, and the majority of the cases spontaneously get better on their own with no long term vision impact. It's the side effects that can be problematic, so let's hope I don't get any of those!

Fortunately, as of now, my central vision is still crystal clear and my left eye is 100% normal, so I can still totally and safely function in my daily life.

But, still very freakish.  I have toyed with whether or not to write this blog post - perhaps it's over sharing. I don't know, at this point I kind of want to share to see if anyone has any ideas or luck with any experimental treatments.

So, let's hope I'm in the majority of this one!  And let's face it, there are worse things to get!

[1] In 2008 I had very similar symptoms as to what I'm having now, but was diagnosed with having a perfectly normal vitreous detachment. Well, 2.5 years later, my optometrist noticed the retinal scarring, and presumed POHS.  Drs. Amer and Lois said in their paper, "After 2-3 years, some scars become distinct and pigmented and resemble the scars associated with POHS."  So, I'm betting I was misdiagnosed before. Not that it makes a difference, as there is no treatment for either vitreous detachment (it's caused by age and onsets earlier for the nearsighted folks) or PIC.  But, knowing I probably had this in 2008 and completely got better... well, I'm very hopeful for a full recovery).

September 19, 2012 Update:

As a lot of you have asked, and I've failed to write a new blog entry on this subject, so I just wanted to give you an update!  My eye has stabilized after one oral course of Prednisone and one injection of cortizone in my eye itself. I regained almost full vision, with just a small fuzzy spot in between my central vision and peripheral vision that correlates with scarring on my retina. I was lucky and did not get any bleeding (CNV).  I hope that it stays this way.  And, thank you everyone that has commented and brought to my attention these great sites: PIC World, Eye Wiki - PIC page.  We are not alone! Here's to stable vision!

Review: Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
by Irene Spencer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was an amazingly heart breaking tale of a young girl who's upbringing led her to seek to become someone's second wife. She was a fourth generation polygamist, growing up all over Utah and Arizona. The Church of Latter Day Saints had long ago shunned the practice, so these "pligs" were left to fend on their own, making their own churches, following their own "prophets" (all of which insisted that the more wives you had, the better your chances of securing a place in heaven were).

As you can imagine, having many wives with even more children was an untenable situation. Growing up, Irene was at the lowest level of poverty, living off of the US Government welfare system, wearing clothing made of old flour sacks, and wondering where her next meal would come from. As only one wife was recognized as the legal wife, the rest of them were "single mothers" and able to collect benefits from the Government.

Irene's mother did eventually leave her father and take up the monogamous lifestyle so much of the rest of America considered normal, and begged Irene to marry a man that was not interested in multiple wives. But would Irene listen?

Every step of the way, as a reader, I was shouting out to Irene to make different choices. To me, raised in a traditional family, it seemed obvious that Irene was making the wrong choices, dropping out of school to "marry" her half-sister's husband and move down to Mexico.

Irene recounts her time living in Mexico, Nicaragua, Utah and Arizona, often with no electricity, no running water, and no food to feed her ever increasing family. In the end, her husband had 10 wives and over 50 children.

I could not put this book down, I can't recommend it enough!





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Hey Jerk, who are you callin' a jerk, Jerk? And... progress!

Pardon me while I jump up on my soap box again.   Riding into work today with two other riders on a wide, quiet road (4 lanes with a large shoulder) I was riding partially next to one of my companions.  A man in a white car with a black roofbox on top decided to cut us off, stop on the right blocking the shoulder to give us this important safety message: "RIDE SINGLE FILE!!!!!!!"

Then he tore off again, demonstrated that his brake lights were out and then ran a red light. Way to be a jerk, jerk!

I rarely ride double and never do so unless there is loads of room. We were hardly a large pack, with only two of us sort of overlapping, and the road was wide and relatively deserted.

The good news is, though, I WAS RIDING MY BIKE! :-)  I'm commuting into work 2-3 times a week now with little to no pain.

I've met another one of my goals as well: I have gone on 2 pleasure rides with hills! (Up Steven's Creek Canyon and back)

Oh, and I can get in and out of a car like a normal person !

I've started doing one-on-one Pilates where my instructor is working on correcting a lot of my compensatory behaviours and I'm already seeing results - hopefully some day soon I'll see the bottom of my left foot again! :-)

Smartphones: Is it worth it?

Many years ago, I can remember the delight attendees at DefCon II had at learning how they could easily eavesdrop on others (and make free phone calls) by abusing a poorly installed PBX phone system at Circus Circus in Las Vegas.

It was so simple to use a scanner (or even another cell phone, like my Motorola Microtac Ultra-Light) to listen to people on their cordless phones or analogue cell phones sitting nearby.

I was so excited, then, when I heard about all of the new digital telephony standards that would make such eavesdropping impossible.

Fast forward more than a decade and many of us are carrying smartphones that have a handy built-in GPS.  That GPS is great when you want to find a good taqueria nearby, or get turned around walking in an unfamiliar city - but not great when police start pulling the data off of your phone with no warrant!

Seems far fetched and paranoid, doesn't it?  Well, I found out today that Apple is storing all of your locations on your iPhone (and transferring it to your "host" computer that you sync with) in an unencrypted file, along with nearby wifi information.  I'm sure this is for some future app that will tell you where to go for free wifi, or something, but the privacy implications are staggering!

Combine that with the fact that some Michigan police officers are carrying around mobile phone "extraction" devices that they are using in some routine traffic stops to download GPS information along with photos and text messages from people ... without a warrant!

Surely we shouldn't have to give up this information just because we want the convenience of finding a great place for beer?  Well, we can't say that Susan Landau didn't warn us...many times.

Sheherezade XI: 2010 A Year in Review!

Wow, what a delightful time out last night! My husband and I drove up to San Francisco to catch this year's fund raising installment for the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco at the Stage Werx Theatre, Sheherezade XI: 2010 A Year in Review.

Again, we were presented with 8 short plays, all centered around events that occurred last year. From somber to hilarious, we were taken on quite a journey!  I have never cried so much, followed directly by so much uncontrollable laughter.

With all of the recent news out of Japan, I had all but forgotten the plight of the fishermen in the Gulf Coast, but Rachel Ferensowicz, Charles Lewis III and Richard Egan brought all of that destruction and worry right back into focus in Oil and Water.

And who could forget the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion? I certainly won't, after the great performances by Philip Goleman, Wesley Cayabyab and Shubhra Prakash in Emergency Contact.

Another favorite of mine was Many Winters, featuring Heidi Wolff and Rachel Ferensowicz. Rachel and Heidi took us through a heartbreaking tale of losing a child, and the great weight it puts on the mother's shoulders. Could she have prevented the loss? Was there something society could have done? When does the grieving end?

Lighter plays covered such topics as the psychic octopus, Paul der Krake (played by Wesley Cayabyab), iPads (iWhat), and an intriguing take on Prop 8 (Prop Ate).

The only disappointing thing, for us, was the audience was not full. This is a wonderful show, benefits a great group and should be sold out every night! The benefit runs through April 9 - seven more shows. Go get your tickets now!

Baby steps to recovery! Milestone this week!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately on how I've been recovering from my 3 cm x 1 cm tear in my quadricep tendon, let's just say it's been more than a bit depressing.

Recovery has been very slow, as I've additionally damaged my low back from walking around for 6 weeks with a knee immobilizer on (damage was compounded, I believe, by sitting at a computer terminal, as my leg/low back could never be properly positioned - not even with help of ergo specialist).

I am angry that my orthopedics PA did not give me crutches at first, nor have any advice or help for working at a computer, but that's water under the bridge now.

I don't want to go into details at this time, but suffice it to say that I essentially stopped writing and gave up most hope when both my physical therapist and physician recommended I transition into chronic pain management, as I had recovered as much as possible. In their expert opinions, as my physical therapist put it, "We've been doing this a long time. We know when someone has achieved all the benefit they can from physical therapy."

At that time, I could barely walk without pain and had hardly any strength in my left leg.

For those of you that follow my blog or know me in real life, you realize that getting news that I was not going to be able to walk a short distance to dinner from my house was devastating.

In addition to the low back pain, floating/electric pain down my left (injured) leg, and major muscle atrophy I also have unexplained spasms in my thigh adductor muscles. I've lost total hip flexibility (yoga's been tough!) and am frequently surprised by pain in that area.

I know, plenty of folks have it worse off than I do, so that's enough complaining for now.

On to the bright spots: my sister-in-law is a physical therapist and had examined me over the Christmas break, and she believed I was fixable. Through her determination and my husband's inspiration, I requested a new physical therapist from Kaiser. I was pleasantly surprised when they had no issue reassigning me.

My new physical therapist is wonderful. With her help, plus deep tissue massage and recently chiropractic adjustments, I'm back on the mend.

Here were my New Year's Goals:

• Sit without pain
• Get in and out of bed/car without pain and like a normal person (as opposed to the old lady method)
• Drive my manual transmission Mustang with a heavy clutch
• See the bottom of my left foot
• Sit "Indian style" (which I believe is now called "criss cross, apple sauce")
• Walk all day without nerve pain in left leg
• Ride my bike to work
• Ride a pleasure ride
• Downhill Ski

Now, 2 months in, I've met the following:

• Driven my Mustang (w00t!)
• Walked all day without pain
• Skied (many thanks to my Skiers Edge, which I was able to do rehab/retraining of my muscles in the comfort of my own home). Don't worry, I just did some easy runs at Badger Pass and Bear Valley. No blacks or moguls for me this year :-)
• and..... drum roll please.... Rode my bike to work *both* ways this past Monday! With no pain!

I have to really focus on form and keeping my abdominal muscles really tight to do it, but I did it!

Has anyone ever had their thigh adductor muscles go into spasm? I'm hoping for some insight here - everyone seems to be stumped.

There is hope yet :-)

Thank you all for your support! Every day I am a little bit better. I will keep doing retraining and physical therapy until I am there.

*hugs*