feuervogel | 5 days to Berlin, World Cup

It's the first day of the World Cup, and I am perpetually without cable. Most of the matches will be on ESPN or ESPN2 (cable), but some will be on ABC. I guess I'll be befriending the folks at Italian Pizzeria III (super sketchy storefront, decent NY-style pizza) and/or Fitzgerald's (Irish pub) when I get back from Germany. Or doing what I usually do for the Bundesliga.

I leave for Berlin in 5 days. I have a packing list, and I'm working on a shopping list. I have most everything I need, but I'm almost out of protein bars (excellent airplane/travel snacks/emergency food), and my bathing suit doesn't fit anymore. (It never quite fit, but it was good enough. Not so much anymore.) But I hate buying bathing suits (because ones that fit my top are $75 wtf), and I'm not entirely sure I'd use it (while there are swimming areas in Berlin, I don't know if we'd have time to go to them, though our hotel has a sauna).

I'm worried that Luna will get sick while we're gone. The last 2 times we've been away, she's gotten stress-sick. So we started her on Prozac (which won't have built up enough to be effective before we leave), got a new Feliway plug-in, and have some xanax for her. We also have anti-nausea medication and antibiotics which theoretically will prevent diarrhea.

I really don't want to get a phone call from the cat sitter 3 days into an 11-day trip telling me the cat is sick as hell, you know? Argh. So we're doping her to the gills and hoping.

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so, what did you do today? oh, you know, dosed my cat with prozac, as you do.

somehow that makes me giggle. probably because i used to be on that until february or so. until we swapped it for nortriptyline because that gives me a gentle kick in the butt i seem to need every morning.

Another cat is on clomipramine. She'd been on prozac, but it dropped her white blood cell count, so we had to switch. She doesn't hide from everything anymore, which is a great improvement. She used to hide under the bed when people come over; now she goes under the couch and comes out for food. CATS.

I was on Lexapro for about 6 months a while back for situational depression (shitty job, shitty climate, no support network...) Good stuff, that. (I'm just glad the first thing we tried worked!)

i wasn't aware pets get treated for anxiety. i never thought about it. but it does make sense. so, does the vet prescribe the medication or do you just go to your pharmacy and buy the for your pets? i wonder how that works in germany. again, i never thought about it, not having any pets...

good thing you got lucky on the first try with anti-depressants. it can be SUCH a grueling trial and error process. it's a constant topic in my self-help-group how "these shitty meds don't work anyway" vs "keep trying, it sometimes takes a couple of meds before you find the one most effective for you".

It's prescribed by our vet. Because clomipramine isn't available in 5 mg tablets for humans, we get it made by a pharmacy in Texas and shipped to us. At much higher expense, yaaaaaay. But hey, she's much happier on medication, so it's worth it.

I was in such a horrible situation, and I'm glad the first thing we tried worked. Though since I worked in a hospital pharmacy and there was a clinic in the same building as my office, getting changed would have been easy.

PS: I bought tickets for the David Bowie exhibit on June 26, which makes Thursday entirely free. And lian can't come because she has to meet with a professor, so Wednesday is also all free now.

OMG I LEAVE IN <24 HOURS

for thursday we definitely should do the street food thing for dinner. svenja's all for it as well.

i thought about seeing the bowie exhibition as well, but it seems so crowded ALL THE FUCKING TIME. i'm not good with crowds right now.

wasn't there a football thing you wanted to do on thursday? svenja and i were doing a papercraft project for her work when germany played today. we could tell it went well for them by the fireworks going off several times ;-)

for wednesday i'm sure we'll find something to do. i am free all day, YOU are my wednesday appointment ;-) in contrast to thursday and friday when i'll be all stressed out over the welfare appointments. would you like a semi-spontaneous picnic at the volkspark rehberge with turkish treats? we can walk there, it's about 15 min to walk there. i'm oretty sure you'll want to take a shower when you get here, maybe have breakfast first, maybe a nap against the jetlag? we'll figure something out.

Excellent. I love food. I love Turkish food, too, so the picnic idea sounds great.

Thursday I wanted to hit up the Hertha fan shop (probably the one at Hbf unless I feel like going out to the Oly, where I've never been) and maybe do some DFB-Team shopping. That's probably the Adidas store either by KaDeWe or Alex. Boring stuff for non-fans. And I want to see what's around the hotel in the way of cafes, and go to Anhalter Bhf. (I could happily spend a day or three going to train stations. I'm kind of a dork like that.)

When we get in, I definitely want to shower. I probably won't take a nap (except possibly spontaneously falling asleep mid-afternoon) but try to get to bed at a reasonable or slightly early hour (9ish?) then get up at a normal time Thursday.

Whee! If shenanigans with flights occur, I'll let you know. My carrier says I can send international SMS free (from within the US), so I can try that.

I hope your kitty stays well for the trip. Have a great time!
--Beth

Thinking positive thoughts that all goes well on the home front and that you have a fun trip.

5 days to Berlin, World Cup

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