Last night, just the day after all that hellabaloo with the DMV and my neurologist's office concerning my authorization to drive, I recieved the letter from the DMV saying basically, "Oh we found out that you may have a condition that impairs your driving and now we need to hear from your doctor; here's the form." So basically, I reported myself by starting all this. Oh well. If they deny me, I'm really in no worse condition than I was before. I'll still be able to drive in January regardless. The downer is that I was planning on driving early and now I wonder if I did that and got pulled over for some reason, that would be attached to my name in some database somehow. If they deny me, I'll just have to wait it out I guess. It's not worth risking driving forever just to drive early. But still. Grr.
Tonight Keely, Judy, maybe Suganthi, and I are going out to dinner to Rock Bottom. I hear it's pretty good food. Sunday I plan on going to Bumbershoot to see Lifehouse perform. Nothing planned tomorrow. Probably will clean my room. Sigh...the life of the boring.
I slept in a little too long this morning...to the tune of 9:45. And I even fell asleep early last night.
This driving situation is getting more and more complicated. The DMV and my neurologist need to get their stories straight. They need to stop toying with me for God's sake!
New discovery: Men's shorts. I like how they're cut longer. Much more comfortable than women's that barely cover anything. :) Some day I hope to gleefully wear those shorts, but for now, I prefer to cover myself a little more modestly.
My neurologist exam went very well this morning. Dr. Fosmire was very cool; he didn't insist on a bunch of tests, especially the dreaded EKG. He did strongly suggest an MRI, which I will consider after I find out if it's covered on my insurance. I was so worried when I went in, but am very much relieved. And, he said that he's had patients that have called the DMV and been able to start driving sooner than the six month time period when they explained the situation and were properly medicated. You can bet that I am calling today. I'm tired of taking the bus everywhere.
Two days later and I am still sore from softball. I must start working out again. I bought some new clothes for it, so hopefully that will inspire me.
People, I see no comments still. Surely you have something to say.
Get your head out of the gutter. :)
We won both our games last night, although the second was very close. Too close. I think it was during the first game, I hit a ball, not very well. It didn't even make it to the pitcher's mound. But I ran it out anyway, because you just never know. And luckily I found favor in the Softball Gods' eyes and the pitcher overthrew it to the first baseperson and I ran to second base. I don't know what happened after that; all I heard was the team telling me to run to third so I did! I couldn't believe it. I was, and still kind of am, elated. Of course, I never got on base again after that. My last hit actually did get me on base, but someone else got out and since it was the third out, it doesn't really count. However, the Softball Gods were toying with me last night in that nearly every time that my turn came around to bat, there were two outs. That is very discouraging. At first, I thought it was because I am always stuck at the bottom of the lineup. However, that made no difference last night. But, it was nice not being last for once! :)
Yesterday afternoon, Marie, Abby, Nicole, and I chatted on IM together in one chat. It was so much fun. Marie and I of course were friends in high school, but the other two didn't really run in the same circles as we did, nor with each other I don't think, so it's really interesting to hear how others' high school experiences were. It was like we were at a slumber party- divulging how much weight we've gained since graduation, who we wish we could've dated, who we most want to see at the reunion (of course all were males.) I hope the reunion is like that; everyone just chatting each other up and laughing and getting along. Again, why can't we know what we need to know when we need to know it? It'd been much more useful to know back then that none of that clique crap was ever going to matter.
Tomorrow is the dreaded neurologist appointment.
I went to Kirkland again to write. It was cloudy, so I figured it would be even better than yesterday. I did manage to write more, but it was more frenzied, less descriptive. That's not exactly bad; it can easily be hammered out later. I am near the end, but still don't know exactly how I'm going to end it. I promised Robert that I would make someone a hockey player, so the character of Mike, the neighbor who lays the blacktop will be a hockey player. It's an easy enough description that neither adds nor detracts from the plot. While I was writing, I saw this guy come into the coffee shop. I've seen him there before. I accidentally made eye contact with him and pretty soon, there he was at my table. I tried to ignore him for awhile, pretending that I was deep in the writing zone, but he was relentless. He waited. So I finally looked up, again pretending like I hadn't noticed him there, and had to carry on a conversation with him. Now, I know that this is very mean. It is shallow and horrible and all the things that I would hate in someone else. But my problem with this guy is this. He is disabled. He told me later that he'd been in a really bad car accident some time ago, thus the motorized go cart and the severe speech impairment. And it really is less the fact that he is "less than perfect" and more that I get very flustered around people who have difficulty speaking due to physical problems. I worry so much that he/she won't be understood and that they'll get frustrated. I feel the same kind of nervousness around people who don't speak much English. The guy paid me a compliment, asked if my roommate was as good looking as me. (why he even asked about a roommate, I'm not sure) But, for some reason, this didn't make me feel like I was maybe one ounce attractive. In fact, I felt worse, and I don't know why.
A few more classmates' bios have trickled into my e-mail. No big surprises, though.
Please people, I see that you are visiting this page...why aren't you leaving comments???? Tell me something!
Usually, I can only focus on writing when it is dreary raining out. Today was gorgeous so I headed to Kirkland, writing backpack in tow. I wandered around for awhile and made my way over to this mini-mallish place. There's a small bookstore there and I spent quite a bit of time meandering and reading. I didn't buy anything, which I felt a little badly about since I'd loitered for so long, but I think it got me into the proper mood to write. I walked back to the Triple J and realized on the way back that I don't have much time left to get that story finished that Wendy and I talked about, for the next Seattle Writergrrls' Zine. So for about three hours, I worked on it. I've rewritten the first two pages a dozen times, unable to get past it. But I got much further and scribbled some notes for later on in the plot. As I wrote, ideas came to me, which is always a relief since I generally don't work with an idea of what's to come. It's great how the mind works. A writer's mind at least. I still don't know exactly how this one will end. I hate endings.
I've actually been pretty busy at work this week. Last week was totally dead, so this makes up for it. I like to be busy, though, so I'm happy. Less time to think about other things that I don't need to be thinking about.
I cleaned out the refrigerator last night. It pretty much sparkles now. There is also a clear division. It looks pretty empty.
What am I going to do this weekend? Since the house is already clean, I won't have that to worry about. Even my laundry is pretty much done. I have a bunch of projects to work on. But I haven't been to Kirkland in a long time. Also, there is a Seattle Writergrrls' picnic on Saturday, but it's in West Seattle which is kinda tricky to get to via bus. Tim, do you want to go to a picnic? :) It's not just the Writergrrls...friends and family are invited, too. Perhaps you'll meet a hot grrl there!
Yesterday I had a misunderstanding with an online friend. That is one thing I hate about communicating online so much. You can't gauge tone or inflection and it's so easy to insert your own interpretation based on your own insecurities. I've done it a million times. I apologized for what I said despite the fact that I didn't mean what he thought I meant. Still, he gives me the silent treatment. It makes me reconsider talking to people online or having friends who I speak with primarily online. But I am not that fond of speaking on the phone unless it's someone I know really well, and even then, I'm not one to call. Letters, although I love to receive them and think it's a dying art, provide the same complications as e-mail or talking online. All this to say that, face to face communication is the best. Even subtle facial or body language nuances are detected. Sure, those can be misinterpreted, too, but I think much less easily and can be cleared up quickly. As much as I love my computer, e-mail, Web site, etc, I think...no, I know that I need to spend less time behind it. I rely on it for too many things. Instead, I should rely on myself more. For instance, I use my computer as a tool to "meet people", aka "meet guys to date." While this has been fairly successful to varying degrees, I need to meet guys out in the real world. I have to figure out a way to make myself more approachable and approach guys more often. That goes for women, too. Not that I want to date women, but I do want/need more female friends. Maybe I can find a Web site that instructs one on how to do this...lol
Keely and I went to Nordstrom Rack last night and I finally found, I think, an appropriate dress for Ashley. I was about ready to give up. I didn't find anything for Whitney, but that's fine since I found all kinds of things at every other store that I have access to. I also found a new Stephen Mackey journal at the Hallmark store. I'm not done with the current journal I have, but since I haven't seen this one at any other place, I snatched it up to save for later.
Last night Keely decided to stay over again. I was about to start making dinner: cheese hot dogs in a blanket, and she called Suganthi who ended up was kind of depressed, so we went over there to cheer her up. We brought the wine coolers and beer that we had, picked up the essentials: mozzarella cheese sticks, chocolate, and pizza, and headed over there. Her friend Marissa was there and since eventually the conversation evolved to a past relationship Suganthi still struggles with, the three of us gave her the beat down about it. Her relationship woes are frightingly familiar and mirror those I had with Rolf almost exactly. Nothing we said was anything we haven't already said a hundred times. She knows what she needs to do but she doesn't want it to be that way. I know. I feel her pain. I think I have given up on men. I say that now. Tomorrow I will be pining again, I'm sure.
The house is a disaster area; it looks like it often did when Keely and I lived together. It's great. It's the way it ought to be. The way things will hopefully be again eventually. Well, maybe not the disaster area of a house, but the living together. We'd like to get a house and have more than just us. We've got plenty of time to think about it and round up some unsuspecting people for roommates.
Tim has helped me to set Grey Matter up. Look for a calendar archive soon. I am so glad that he figured this all out because I was lost. It certainly isn't the easiest thing to set up. But I had to have those calendars!
BFD
Yesterday Keely and I went to Big Freakin' Deal, a fundraising concert put on by Kiss 106.1 for the Fred Hutchinson Medical Center. She bought the tickets back in June when she heard that Shaggy was going to be there. Other artists were BBMak, Michelle Branch, The Calling, O-Town, Avril Levigne, and P. Diddy. It started in the afternoon and lasted until 10 pm. Besides it being a really great concert for a good cause, I also got to see the new Seahawks Stadium which I probably wouldn't have any other way. P. Diddy isn't generally my music style of choice but his show was actually pretty good, despite its suprising briefness. He had lots of pyrotechnics and the finale was his rendition of the Police's Every Breath You Take which he dedicated to all the rap artists that have died. During the song he played a video of all the passed performers. It gave me goodbumps.
There was a scare after the concert, though. We parked in a garage not too far away from the stadium. When we reached the parking garage after the concert, we discovered that said garage closed at 9 pm sharp. All the doors were locked. However, there was still an attendant in there as well as some other concert-goers that had reached their cars before we had. Keely and I were nearly on the brink of freaking out; however, the attendant allowed us to come in and get the car. He didn't charge us extra, nor did he accept the tip we offered him. Impressive.
I begrudgingly made an appointment with a neurologist for next week. At least I won't have to have the EKG then. I really only did it because I am almost out of tegretol. And even so, I'll run out before the appointment, so I had to have my primary physician order a prescription for me.