Physicals, teeth cleanings, and eye appointments - oh my!

Within the last month, I have gotten my yearly physical, gone to the dentist to get a checkup and teeth cleaning, and had my eyes checked.

First the physical. I'm in good health, despite the fact that I'm overweight. I discuss this with my doctor, and she recommends the Pro Club 20/20 program. One of my co-workers is going through this program right now, and is doing really well. So, I say I'll consider it. My insurance covers most of the cost, but there's still a pretty penny out of pocket. Not to mention the fact that I tend to be a lazy ass, which is what got me to this point in the first place. Well, that and McDonalds fries. But, I've kicked the fast food habit, so now I just need to adopt a good physical fitness routine. I'm seriously thinking about giving this program a try because it has a very good success rate, and if anything, I'd be paying for part of it which would make me more likely to get my ass to the gym and meet up with my personal trainer and nutritionist. A little accountability might help me kick it into gear.

Now the dentist. I hadn't gone in almost 2 and a 1/2 years. It's not that I hate the dentist. It's just that I forget to make the appointment, and since I've never had teeth problems before, and I have a Sonicare, I tend to put it off way longer than I should. Well, all good things must come to an end. I've never had so much as a cavity in my life. Now I have two. They are matching cavities, in the two back upper teeth. My dentist explains that this is a fairly common spot, since it's really hard to get to. Meanwhile, I'm devastated that my goal in life to have perfect teeth is now over. I'm going to have two fillings next week. She tells me that she only uses teeth-colored filling material, so you won't be able to see them. But, I'll always know that they're there. Blech. The only thing I'm looking forward to are the massage chairs in the waiting room and the paraffin wax hand treatment that they do when you come in. Small consolations...

Finally, the eye appointment. I really like the optometrist that I saw this morning at Costco. He had a good recommendation for naturopathic eye drops to help with my allergies (which he noticed were bothering me when checking out my eyes). He also figured out that my last prescription was a bit of an overcorrection, and that I have a very slight astigmatism in my left eye. All news to me, but now I'm thinking that the overcorrection may be one of the reasons I have a lot of headaches (aside from the migraines). I've always had a lot of headaches. Things just come out in my head I guess. But, I'm optimistic that this may help a bit.

He also explained that the last people I got my glasses from were probably not crooks. I was really ticked off because I got glasses from Pearl about 9 months ago, and the lenses were wearing really weird - not scratched, but having weird spots on them that I couldn't get off. I kept them in the case that they gave me, and only ever used the spray and cloth they gave me to clean them. My new optomitrist explained that with the anti-glare coating, you have to be uber careful about touching them, what kind of case you use for them, how you clean them, etc. He says that he gets a new pair every year simply because they are more prone to problems. This would have been really helpful for the people at Pearl to explain to me when I went in an complained about the glasses, but oh well. All they could tell me was that I hadn't bought the extended warranty, so there was nothing they could do about it. So, I've now sent one pair of glasses off to have the lenses replaced by Costco, and I bought contacts with my new, not overcorrected prescription. And I opted not to have the anti glare coating put on these new lenses. I may get it for my second pair of glasses when I get the first pair back, but we'll see. I wasn't very impressed with the anti-glare coating wearing off like that. It's not like when I was a teenager and didn't take very good care of my glasses. I'm really careful with them now, but both pairs got really messed up just in the course of daily life. Not good.

A real wake up call

What a morning!!! I'm laying in bed, snoozing my alarm clock one last time, when all of a sudden I hear the fire alarm go off. Now, the fire alarm in my building is obnoxiously loud. I can barely walk out of the bedroom without my ears bleeding, while I stumble around trying to get on my pants and shoes. I grab my purse and run out the door in an interesting state of non zipped pants, a sweatshirt tossed over my head but without my arms through the holes, and shoes semi-on.

I get out the door, and I definitely smell some smoke. My neighbors and I look at each other wondering if this is the real thing or not. See, the fire alarm went off during the snow storm last winter, and it was a false alarm. According to my neighbors, this happens approximately once a year, so the fire department comes out, they do a check, and then shut the thing off until the next false alarm. This is status quo, and personally while I find it annoying, I'd rather have a false alarm than no working alarm. So, we deal.

Anyway, the fire department arrives, and the fire fighter looks at the alarm box and laughs because it's locked. None of us has a key, so we have to wait for the next fire people to come with the key. This happened last time, too. Anyway, I ask whether it's a false alarm, and he says no, there is a fire in the building. They wheel some contraption into a first floor unit, and ostensibly put out the fire.

I'm not sure how the whole episode ended, as I had an eye appointment at Costco, so I had to leave before everything was settled. I made it to Costco and realize that I looked like a bag lady. I'm wearing this ancient Mariner's Baseball sweatshirt that has holes and bleach spots, but that I keep around to wear when I'm doing something like cleaning or painting. I've got on dirty jeans (the first pair that I saw hanging out of the hamper as I was rushing out the door). Thankfully, I had socks on when I went to bed, so my socks and shoes were OK. But my face was greasy, my teeth were unbrushed, and I simply pulled my hair back into a pony tail. Had I not lost that 20-30 minutes, I would have been able to clean up a little bit before leaving and put on clean clothes.

So, needless to say, I'm pretty self conscious as I get out of the car at Costco. I then realize that it isn't open yet, so I wait near the entrance with everyone else - many of whom have already formed a line. Let me tell ya, this is quite an interesting group of people (says the fire alarm bag lady). I can't figure this out, and frankly it would never have even occurred to me had I not serendipitously showed up there this morning right before opening. I take a seat at a picnic table by the food area, and look around. A friendly woman standing near me senses my awe, and comments that it's very weird. She, too, made a mistake in showing up early thinking that Costco opened a half an hour before. I explain the fire alarm situation, and my lack of planning to have laid out some decent clothes in case of an emergency. We both wonder what it is that makes someone show up and form a line before a place even opens. I mean, it was like a Disneyland ride. Now, I consider my time precious, and so I'm always looking for ways to conserve time-wasting activities. But, this is ridiculous. They're actually wasting time to try and save time. I just don't get it. There wasn't even a free hot dog or coupon to the first hundred customers, or anything to actually entice people to get there first. Bizarre.

Anyway, I probably have no room to talk. I got home and realized that my pants weren't zipped. So, I'm pretty sure some of those people at Costco got a glimpse of my undies. Good times...

From the mouths of babes

It never ceases to amaze me how kids will just blurt anything out of their mouths. I realize that tact is a skill you develop over time, and some people just never get it, but it still cracks me up.

Case in point: Mother's Day.

L. and I went over to my mom's house to celebrate with her and my step dad; my brother-in-law, sister, and their two kids A. and O.; and my other sister and her daughter and the daughter's fiance. We're sitting around the living room as everyone arrives, and chatting. Somehow we get onto the subject of sleep deprivation and how it most certainly shows on your face as you get older. A. and O. talk about the dark spots and bags under their parent's eyes with delight, and they are quickly reminded that while we are all joking and having fun with this conversation, many people would take offense to having such characteristics pointed out and that A. and O. should remember to think before they speak.

Fast forward a few hours, and I'm in the car with mom and my niece, A., who is turning 10 in a couple of months. We're returning from the nursery where my mom has purchased a bazillion flowers that we are going to plant back at the house. The conversation starts out a bit like this:
A.: Auntie, how old are you?
Me: I'm 29.
A.: Look of horror spreads across her face...
Me: Believe me, it's not that old. You'll be here before you know it.
A.: Thinking of a quick recovery...No, I'm just surprised that an aunt can be that young.
Me: Good recovery. Chuckles from me and my mom...
A.: Auntie, when are you and L. going to get married?
Me: Wha??? I don't know. Someday, I suppose. Why?
A.: Because it's been a long time since O. and I had an uncle.
Me: Trying to wipe the grin off of my face...I see. And do you like L.?
A.: Yes, very much. He's really nice. Much nicer than C. was.
Me: Slightly surprised...Ah. Well, that's good to know. I'll have to get on that. Wouldn't want you to be without an uncle much longer.

The funny thing is, I know for a fact that she and O. really loved C. (my ex-husband). He was really good with kids, and they'd climb all over him like a human jungle gym. And L. has fun with them, but I was surpised to hear her say that, because I know that it really hurt them, and my whole family, when C. left. So, after the next part of the conversation, I finally got what was going on.

A.: Auntie, why did C. leave you?
Me: Starting to not like where this conversation is going...Well, it's complicated. He wasn't happy, and we had some problems, so he decided to leave rather than to try and fix things. But, he's not a bad person, he just made a bad decision. Sometimes people do that.
A.: Well, I don't like him. He was mean to you. Mommy cuts him out of all of the pictures now.
Me and my mom: Trying to stiffle a giggle...
Me: Well, just know that he loved you and that his leaving had nothing to do with you. Sometimes we just mess up.
A.: Yeah. Hey, want to hear me sing the song Under the sea?
Me: Yes!

So, then the picture came together. It's very sweet really. I'll never forget the first holiday after C. left. It was Thanksgiving, and I showed up at my mom's house. My whole family was there, but I just felt so alone walking in there without C. A. and O. were playing in the back room and they rushed out to give me hugs and asked me to play a game with them, so I went back there and played for awhile. They didn't say one word about C. until the end of the evening. Then they looked up at me and said, "I miss uncle C." And I said, "Yeah, I do, too." Then the moment passed, and they went back to drawing and coloring. So, it wasn't really until this moment in the car with my mom and A. last weekend that I realized we had never talked about it. I mean, I know that my sister and brother-in-law talked to the kids about it, but they probably wanted to know straight from the horse's mouth.

Edward Scissorhands

My mom and I saw the theater production of Edward Scissorhands at the Fifth Avenue Theater tonight. I didn't really know what to expect, although I loved the movie and love Tim Burton's work and Danny Elfman's music.

I was really impressed. Instead of making it a musical, like most productions we see at the Fifth Avenue, it was more like a ballet set to an orchestra. In a way, I think it spoke volumes about the actors, as they couldn't rely on any words to get the story across. Everything was told through the set, costumes, dances, and expressions of each individual in the show. And it stayed true to the original message in the movie version, which was nice. I liked, too, that it had the feeling of Tim Burton, which is crucial to pulling something like this off.

The main characters were fantastic. And to top it off, at the end they showered the audience with fake snow. It was quite fantastic. I highly recommend seeing it, although it's only playing until May 13th here.

I hate migraines

I had a migraine on Sunday and then again today. Today's migraine was awful not the least of which because it was really hot and that made it that much more uncomfortable.

I usually have about a migraine a month, which is tied to my hormones. I'm pretty used to this by now. I've had them since I was a very little girl, and know how to deal with them. Sometimes I'll have more than one a month if I'm really stressed out, sick, or having bad allergies. But my migraine today really took me by surprise, because it was so close to the one on Sunday. It's happened before, but it's quite rare for me to have two that close together. I suppose it's tied to the back and neck problems that I've been having lately, as well as having been sick recently. The stress level is definitely not as bad as it was, so I don't think that's a factor right now. But, I have been dealing with some allergy issues. I guess it's probably just a mixture of things that caused the one today.

Anyway, I got to feeling better this afternoon, so I did some work from home when I was able. Blech. I hope that's it for awhile.

Insomnia

I could really do without insomnia, but apparently insomnia can't do without me. So, here I am at almost 3:00 AM writing an entry for my blog. This is after tossing and turning for the last hour and a half. Usually I won't stay in bed for that long, but since L. isn't here tonight (and thus my frequent change in positions would not bother him), I figured I'd see if I could wait it out and drift off. But no such luck.

Maybe I'll try to do some more work and see how I feel in another hour or so. Then I can get up and drag myself into work. Good times...

Long lost pals

Interesting weekend. I caught up with no less than 4 people that I haven't talked to in some time.

On Friday, my friend R. called. He was in New York, on his way to Ft. Lauderdale to catch the last leg of his cruise to Seattle. This last part was a spur of the moment decision. He took 5-ish months off to do a cruise around the world, and was originally going to fly back home, but then decided to just cruise all the way back. This adds about another 18 days to his trip, and will allow him to see several ports in Mexico, which think is highly worth it. He called about a month ago from goodness knows where and left a message to say hi, since I wasn't able to answer when he called. I'm looking forward to his return, since we always go to see really cool movies when he's in town. It sounds like he'll be staying with his parents briefly before heading back to Pennsylvania and work.

On Saturday, my friend C. called. He's actually the reason that I'm in the computer industry now. After graduating from college with my humanities degree, he asked what I was going to do with my life. I had abandoned the idea of doing law school, since the thought of another several years in school made me want to bang my head against a wall. So, I answered that I'd probably go into teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students, as that was what I was currently doing as a tutor. He suggested that I go into software testing, to which I laughed as I knew little more than how to turn on a computer and type my term papers. But, he convinced me to try and after a few years of software testing, I made my way into technical writing, and viola! A star was born. Anyhoo, C. is now living in Chicago and does a super secret job. He's one of the smartest guys I've ever known - one of those people you just look at and wonder how they can be that brilliant. Graduated early, and got several degrees, etc. Cool guy.

That afternoon, L. and I headed over to visit my friend, E. who is in the middle of a bathroom remodel following his divorce. We went to a tile store downtown and found a really good option. I'm helping out with the decorative side of things, while he worries about the stuff like subflooring and drywall. We then headed to his watering hole, where we drank some beers and played Scrabble. I won.

Tonight, my friend M. called, but I wasn't able to pick up. So, he just left a message. I'll have to give him a call back tomorrow and see what he's up to. It's been a few months since we last chatted.

Anyway, I think it's really interesting that out of all of the friends I've had in my life, it's my guy friends that are the best about keeping in touch with me. Everyone talks about how good girls are at doing such things, but I have to say that in my experience, it's my guy friends who are better at reciprocating with communication. I only occasionally hear from any of my high school girl friends. And by occasionally, I mean like once every few years or something. But, all of these guys this weekend are guys that I've known at least 11 years or more - in the case of R., he was my 7th grade boyfriend and first kiss, so we go waaaayyyy back. And my friend, エリック, went to Japan for over two years, and we kept in touch the whole time. So, I'm very glad that I have such good friends. It's nice to hold on to people who knew you way back when :)

Cough, cough

Sick. Yep. Definitely gotta cold goin' on. I should probably eat more than a handful of crackers, but everything seems like so much work right now. Blah.

Update
Just made some noodles with olive oil and garlic. Garlic always boosts immunity, right? Kick ass, garlic!