Today was something else

[cornerofmadness]

First I had this dream. My brother, sister in law and Mom were house hunting for my brother and SIL. We were on roads like you find here, hilly, wooded and narrow. I wasn’t sure why they were house hunting. (In reality they may have to as SiL loses the ability to walk). My brother was SO very excited by this house.

When we get in there I have no idea why. It’s a disaster. I go into the living room and immediately say, “John, this place is filled with water damage.” He gets all huffy. Where do I see that? I point to everywhere. It had those very old cheap ceiling tiles that were brown/yellow and buckled and the walls which were just cheap paneling and stained all the way around the room with water. He assures me it’s fine. He and SiL are enamored with the place. Mom is too.

I’m beginning to wonder if I’m seeing a different reality. Then I hear a voice and feel embarrassed I was so loud and rude about the place because the owner is home to help show the place. I go through the dining room and it has that 1930s feel. It’s covered with white wall paper that has tan stripes and in the white stripes there are clusters of orange flowers. It has that old lady hoarder feel. It’s not terrible like 5 feet of junk heaped up but there are ancient knickknacks everywhere.

We get into the very outdated kitchen with its olive green appliances and there’s the owner, as predicted a little old lady (I don’t know where the realtor is). She’s all smiles and very friendly. With her comes two bulldogs, a white standoffish one and a brindle one who smiled at me (now I see why John wants the house, he’s hoping the dogs come with) And she has a cat, a gray tabby that wanted petted but did not want me to pet the brindle bulldog. It scratched me so bad that there was a big flap of skin hanging and blood everywhere. My family was unconcerned . The little old lady gave me some gauze.

As I followed her into the bathroom to get bandaged up, the realtor showed up and was talking to Mom. At first all I noticed was the damage to the base of the tub which was clamshell like and ran the entire length of the room. It had a waist-high scalloped pink wall. For some reason Mom was in the far end in a muumuu taking a bath with the water jets on. The realtor was trying to tell us something but I wasn’t paying attention because the little old lady was bandaging my wrist and I was excited because I could have no less than ten people in this long, long trough of a tub. The realtor got strident because he was being ignored. Tubs like this are a detractor from a house he was saying but in real estate lingo.

The little old lady looked at me and said ‘he says a lot but ends up saying nothing.’ I told her he was wrong. The tub’s pink scalloped wall had a doorway in it so you could walk into the tub. Lots of old people want that, more so than the zero grade showers because they want to soak their arthritic joints. Realtor man was getting very angry. Mom was enjoying her bath then I woke up. No idea what this one means.

Then I had to get up at o'dark and put in four hours of lab before picking up my w-2 and realized I make about 3 grand less than I think (mostly because I didn't work this summer). Thanks for the pittance. It was SO worth my education.

I went to Jackson and I got my reports and x-rays on my back and spine. On the spine we can play the drinking game. Take a drink for every spur you see starting at L2. By the time you get to S2 you'll be drunk. The right hip looks a little better but there's a nice fat subchondral cyst on the superior lateral acetabulum and joint space narrowing. Also my spine is missing it's lumbar curve which isn't news to me (it doesn't have the cervical one either). I have no shock absorbers that way. (Genetic, mom has it, so did grandma)

Today something bizarre happened. I was coming back from the laundromat and into the library when suddenly my right ankle wouldn't hold me and the pain was electrical and intense as in steal your breath intense. I hadn't hurt it. It took about 5 minutes before I could even get to the library door. Even after sitting for 40 minutes it wasn't better then suddenly it was gone. WTF body? It was obviously a nerve related pain but nothing like I've ever had and I've had tons of nerve pain

If you want to see more warrior women in fiction, here's your chance! open call

the 12 days writing thing Day 5: Write a 20-line poem about a memorable moment in your life. Honestly this is less a poem and more 20 random fragments. I'm not a poet.

Eight years of hard work.
The sacrifices are too many to count.
The stress will not fade fast.
No time to clean, no time to cook,
Surviving on ten cent wing nights at all the neighborhood bars
Studying non-stop,
Mainlining coffee to manage it
Forging friendships in the furnace of medical school class rooms
Blood, stench, pus, these have become every day things
Finding the strength to tell someone they’re going to lose a foot.
Residency interviews are over but the fear of what comes with them lives on
Packing up the last four years of life
Goodbyes are said
The orchestra plays and the procession starts
Does anyone ever remember graduation speeches once it’s over?
Lake-effect rain coats everything
The green hoods of newly minted doctors drape down our backs
Pride shines in my parents’ eyes.
I can finally say, Hello, I’m Doctor Evans.


another archaeology link

tell me something good.

things people say in their sleep


declutter day 318 item tossed -A save the date magnet to my cousin’s wedding why kept- It was my cousin’s wedding after all why tossed -They acted like total bitches to my family at the wedding and at the funeral last week too for that matter (and I just now noticed it was still on the fridge among a sea of magnets)

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Well, I like the tub. So there, Mr. Realtor man. Yay for the dogs and cat. Even though the cat's terribly evil.

I like your poem.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

The cat was. I love the tub and thought the rest should be torched.

thanks.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Anyone would love that tub. The only other one I like more is that one that's giant hands in that story with Al and his girlfriend who's one of Roy's sisters.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah that

My dad wouldn't. As he pointed out the reason John doesn't use the big water jet tub he already has is that it costs too much money to heat

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Solar power helps with that sort of thing. :D

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

not nearly as much as you'd think, not yet

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Too bad.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Soon. They are getting SO much better with the batteries on those things