2002-06-28 - 12:11 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: Can't hear it.

Have you ever been reading an online journal, and somebody mentions something that's happening in their life, and then they never follow up on it? So you're left wondering what the result was or how it turned out? But you don't want to ask about it in case it turned out badly or they don't want to talk about it for some reason?

If I ever do that, just ask. I probably just forgot.

Good golly. Okay.

So much for the daily writings. On Wednesday and Thursday I felt like shit all day. The closest thing to an actual symptom was the feeling that my entire digestive system was in a cramp, but that was it. No barfing, no belly troubles, just a general shitty feeling.

And then! On 3pm Wednesday afternoon came two rush requests from a client, with 24-hour turnaround. I worked until 11pm Wednesday, feeling terrible the whole time. I hate it when that happens. One or the other, please (rush request or illness), but not both.

Then last night the Uncle came over. My parents also came down and we went to our favorite local Chinese restaurant for dinner, since apparently it is IMPOSSIBLE to get reservations for five at a Zagat-rated restaurant on a Thursday night in Philly. We had been hoping to go to Fork. Good grief. We could have eaten at 8:30, but everybody had to work the next day.

We finished dinner around 8:20, and that was when the thunderstorm started. We sat around for a while, figuring we'd wait it out, but half an hour later it was still pouring. We debated getting a cab for the two blocks home, but since we had enough umbrellas for everyone, Uncle said, "Well, let's just walk."

Bad idea.

There were puddles everywhere, and the wind picked up and gave us some horizontal rain, so everybody got soaked. I had to walk home barefoot so I wouldn't ruin my shoes. Next time we get caught in a storm, we'll take a cab.

Did I mention how AWESOME it is to be able to have an impromptu visit with my parents on a weeknight?!

Today I had my appointment with the oral surgeon. Here's my e-mail to Poindexter about it:

Hey you,

Well, I have an appointment for July 17th, Wednesday, 10am. Mark your calendar, cuz you gots to go with me.

The doctor is AWESOME. I love her. She sat there and explained EVERYTHING in EXCRUCIATING detail (without me having to ask; this is how she works) for a good 15 minutes. Then we discussed the anesthesia. I like her a LOT. She has two bulletin boards in her office covered with thank-you notes from patients. Wow.

She also explained that I am conscious with this type of anesthesia. Just sleepy and forgetful. People can talk to her but they just don't remember it later.

However.

Problem is, she's concerned about whether she will be able to communicate with me. (The other oral surgeon didn't even THINK of this.) It's possible that I will not have the ability to concentrate enough to understand the occasional request.

So, she said I can give it a try and see what happens; if I can't communicate, reschedule for either:

a. General anesthesia as outpatient hospital (fuck that)

b. Local anesthetic plus nitrous oxide to help me relax

Or I could just go with b. She says it'll take about an hour, maybe a little longer because of the extra trouble with communication (having to remove the mask, etc.).

I'm leaning toward B, so I can be done with it. I dunno. We can discuss. You can tell me what nitrous is like and if it'll calm me/make me not care. She says there's a lot of noise, vibration, and pressure involved. Plus all that water irrigating and shit.

In other news, I decided I liked my black slides and not to exchange them, but then I went out walking and ripped up my feet. Ugh. Perhaps I can soften the leather somehow.

Love,

Evelynne :)

Poindexter thinks I should just go with local+nitrous. I was leaning toward that myself. The doctor said when she does just local, she numbs one side at a time, so that if the patient is miserable, they can do the other half another time. That's nice to know. I think I can probably just deal with it for an hour though. I'll think up a few distracting topics for me to concentrate on so I'm not just sitting there waiting for it to be over. Maybe there will be a theoretical problem for work I can think about.

Today in the deli picking up sandwiches I saw a hugely, hugely fat person. We're talking 500 pounds. The kind that looks like they're going to keel over and die any minute. Very scary.

He was tall, too, and his thighs were very, very large. So when he walked, he waddled. He waddled so far that it looked like his head went 45 degrees to the left or right with each step. It actually made me think of being on a boat with a tall mast when I looked at him. And I got that feeling I get when I'm on the in-laws' boat, anchored out on the ocean. It was SO BIZARRE.

This weekend we'll be playing landlord.

We had a mixup with the lease -- it said we'd provide a microwave when in fact we had no intention of doing so. We missed that and signed it anyway, so a couple weeks later the tenant calls his realtor, who calls our realtor, who e-mails us, wanting to know where the microwave is.

Since the lease mixup was partly the realtor's fault (she checked "yes" on microwave even though she knew from the listing sheet there wasn't one), she wanted to give him her daughter's college microwave. We talked her out of that -- WE didn't read the lease carefully -- and told the tenant he could buy his own and send us the bill, or we could ship him one.

He opted to have it shipped. It was delivered on the 19th. On the 25th (?) he called us up. Microwave only works for 30 seconds at a time and doesn't heat the food.

Argh.

So we said, "You can go buy your own or we'll bring you one next week when Evelynne is in the area for work."

He says he'll buy his own. All is well.

Then LAST night, he calls up. Garbage disposal isn't working anymore.

Hunh?!

Poindexter said, "Let me make a few calls." Then he looked at our garbage disposal here in the studio, and it has a two year warranty. Our GD in Virginia is 2.5 years old, so perhaps that's the problem. Calling ServiceMaster to have a look costs $60 minimum, whereas new GDs cost $40-$120.

There's still the possibility that it's a blown fuse, and that the microwave is just weird, so we're going to check it all out and repair or replace as necessary.

Meanwhile, we get to see Rob and Rianna, meet our semi-famous tenant, and pick up a few things from my office that I need up here, so it should, overall, be a fun day.

So, on the realtor front, we decided to go with Kyle. He seems very excited and optimistic for us. That was nice. He sent us about 20 listings, all with garages and 1500+ square feet.

We went for a drive tonight to look at the locations. Only five of them are in nice neighborhoods, but that's still really good. I'm feeling more optimistic about finding a house we like than I was before.

Hopefully we can see the insides on Sunday or Monday.

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