Chest Pain Reality Check

On Monday I woke up and felt a tight pain in my chest. It was located "inside" the chest and covered the whole chest from the ribcage up to just below the shoulders. My thoughts, "Okay, I've never felt this before. What is it?" and "I'm I having a heart attack?

The thought of going to the hospital and getting checked out was repulsive. So I went about my morning routines and off to work. Throughout the day the pain worsened. I had a hard time bending down. Hard time breathing in deep breaths but not enough to feel the suffocating feeling. But the pressure was getting worse.

So I did what every computer literate person would do - went on the Internet to self diagnose. Didn't seem like a heart problem. No shoulder, jaw or arm pain. But still. It was getting worse.

So at lunch I scootered home and tried to be comfortable. I called Li-Wen and told her what was going on - just in case. Of course, I told her I loved her. She was concerned but I played it down. Otherwise I would have been lovingly hounded to go to the hospital - an option I am very opposed to.

I worked the rest of the day including science club and came home. Did some more internet research and decided it wasn't the heart but something still really strange. I went to bed early.

As I was laying there I thought about what if. What if it's really something major and I don't wake up. What if it really is my turn (funny, Tuesday's science class was about life cycles)?

I felt fear and panic. The fear subsided. Then I felt okay about it - almost warm. Okay, my turn. I didn't feel happy about it. I have lots of things to do, people to see and places to go. But I didn't feel regrets about my life. If it was my turn now then that's how it is.

I could have done more I thought. I could have done more to slow the damage to the Earth that people cause, finish writing that movie and book - stuff like that. But really no painful regrets. I've done a lot of really great things. My life hasn't been boring. So okay.

I also thought well if it isn't my turn now then it will be soon. I'm 51 years old and certainly living the last half or quarter of my life cycle.

It's Thursday morning and I'm fine. All the pain is gone and I feel great. However the thoughts and feelings of the little peek at death are fresh in my mind. How about the future?

I think I'll keep living like I've been.

Maybe I'll work on that book and movie a little more, and look for ways to be more environmentally active. (I also will get a complete physical just to see what was going on.)

Well, time for work. Thirty six little lives in the first stages of their life cycles waiting for me. That's a happy thought!

love, teacher gerald

More Jazz Concert Day

Don't forget your goat! Who would go to a jazz concert in large city in central Taiwan without your goat? Not this kid. (They were selling goat milk.)

Here's the street scene a few hours before the show. It's a good day (they all are) to drive a scooter instead of a car. The thing about a scooter though - it seems you take your health in your hands every time you go out on a scooter.

Some CD art with kids!

Annie with her friend May's baby. A Heavy 7 month old kid getting a dose of jazz. Here is Taiwan babies don't get a name till after the first year. There is a strange birthday thing going on too. Many kids are said to be 3 or 4 when in US time they are a year younger.

Can't Stop Jamming

More Lamb

Here are some lamb dishes. I ate some of them including lamb stew, lamb liver, stir fried lamb and the angle noodles with sauce. I avoided the lamb stomach and some other one but I don't know what it was called.

The Lamb Lies Down on Hua Tan

I went out with the in-laws to a lamb lunch. It's very popular this time of year. The lamb is supposed to be medicinal and help men similar to Viagra. I couldn't tell. However, I did eat lamb liver and it tasted good. The soup was rich. I'm holding a bottle of a "medical" drink that supposed to give energy. The ingredients include nicotine, B vitamins, caffeine, amino acids and booze. You can only buy it in a drug store but no prescription is required. It actually numbed my nose a bit. Apparently laborers drink it a lot to give them energy. I surprised by the nicotine.

My family said not to drink too much or I'll get addicted. I guess so with those ingredients....

My Neighbors

These are my neighbors. They run a restaurant across the street from our home in Taichung. These photos were on Typhoon day. We had an occasional fun time during the storm. They speak Taiwanese and Mandarin. So sometimes we spend an evening exchanging language. They're really nice and outgoing people.

A little improve typhoon singing and dancing.

Back to Work

It's Monday. The storm has headed to mainland China. Back to work for me. I'm glad I love my job, but work is still work.

Bye Bye Krosa

Krosa has left Taiwan. Now just rain. Tomorrow work... Good thing I love my job.

Krosa rain rain rain

The typhoon's eye is gone but the storm is sitting over Taiwan. Looking at the satilight it seems to be near or over Taichung where I live. It is rain, rain and rain. Kind of cold. The streets have a lot of crap from the wind. I won't go anywhere today.

Krosa Update

The typhoon did a circle on the east coast. Right now it's quiet. There is no rain and just some wind. I think we are in the eye. The back side contains a lot of rain. Let's see.

I took a walk. No rain. Quiet.

By the way, the Yankees lost two.

Krosa turned to us

The eye turned. Really no one knows where it is but this is the best bet.

Krosa breaking up

It's 1 pm and they say the storm is breaking up. Down graded to typhoon. I can't tell. In the photo you can't even see Taiwan.

They are so accurate in the prediction of the storm path. How do they do it? Models they say.

Makes me believe the climate models for global warming are really accurate.

Stronger and Stronger.

This is taken from CNN at about 11 am on Saturday - this side of the dateline. It's strange, this storm isn't going to hit Taiwan with the eye but it's the strongest of the storms this year and many have hit. The wind is rough. From this photo it looks like the storms from the movie "The Day After Tomorrow."

The Yankees lost again. The Red Sox are losing.

Typhoon Update Satuday Morning

As I watch Game 2 of the NY Yankees at Cleavland playoffs the Typhoon approaches.

Steady light rain this morning. It's increasing. The air is cooler and contains pockets of heat. It is humid. The storm track is dancing a bit but still looks like it will really affect the weather today - October 5 at about 20:00 or 8 PM. I'm just hanging. It's too windy to scooter to Changhua. A good day to play around with the web, do house chores, watch TV, the playoffs which I can get in English because I have a bi-lingual TV or movies, read a book....nice really.

Warning for Whole Country

A typhoon warning is issued for the whole country. This means all government and most private business will be closed. Why didn't this happen on Monday - my work day?

Here's the Super Typhoon Krosa after work today. It's windy and it blows the scooter sideways. Seems like tomorrow is the day. It will, or should, be north of me but the wind is steady. It should rain for three days. Kind of exciting.

Super Typhoon Krosa

It's about 8 hours since my last post about now Super Typhoon Krosa. The path has edged southward and appears it will pass over the north part of Taiwan, south of Taipei, which brings it closer to me in Taichung. The eye has become bigger by about 5 kilometers or 2+miles. Krosa is supposed to have lots of rain.

It should start raining here tonight and the Sunday or Monday it should be going quite well. If it's intense on Monday we may get a "Typhoon" holiday which would go nicely with the 10/10 national holiday on Wednesday.

Typhoon Krosa

Typhoon Krosa is heading our way - October 7 or so is the hit day. When the weather services (Taiwan Central Weather Bureau and US Military Joint Typhoon Warning Center) began to track the storm it was heading north of Taipei and Taiwan. It has steadily moved south and now shown to pass over the island. Before it gets here I think it will pass over the central part of the island. I'll keep this blog updated as the storm nears.

My Afternoon Class

Here is my afternoon class. I have all personalities types. The smart girl, the rascal boys the sneaky girls the smart boys, the taddle tales, the dreamers, the story tellers, the sleepers... I do love them and teaching. Both of my classes are good. It's great to have a co-Chinese teacher too helping with the class and teaching the English Grammar.

Science Club is so cool. It's 40 minutes of anything that I want to teach in Science and of course it must be FUN! So far we've done the straw flute (vibrations in air makes sound), balloon rocket (Air Pressure) and here are photos of paper airplanes (Bernoulli' Principle). Now that's fun. I do it once a week.