I Swear It's Multiplying In There.

On Sunday, I made a massive pot of chicken & dumplings. It is now Friday, and I have reached the point where I cannot even look at another bowl of chicken & dumplings. Possibly not for the rest of my life.

This may actually be one of the biggest downsides to living alone.

No Use Crying

You know it's going to be one of those days when practically the first thing you do in the morning is to drop a nearly full carton of milk on the floor. Sideways.

Well, at least the cats enjoyed it.

Doctors Without Sonic Screwdrivers

In a couple of months, I'm going to be forty. Which is not something I really want to deal with, but I guess there's no point in denying it. And since that's traditionally viewed as the point where everything starts to go downhill, I figure I really ought to start taking better care of myself. I mean, my car gets preventative maintenance more often than I do, and it's months overdue for an oil change. So yesterday I had a physical for the first time in... well, let's say it's not quite "ever," but it's close. (It helped that I had to make a doctor's appointment to get more allergy drugs, or, knowing me, I might still be putting it off a year from now.) You'll be pleased to know that everything seems to be where it's supposed to be and my heart is beating and stuff. Also, my blood pressure is still good, which I like to think of as my father's hypertension and my mother's hypotension cancelling out.

I also walked out of the doctor's office with the following: 1) Prescriptions for more allergy drugs, including extra bonus nasal spray, so mission accomplished! 2) An appointment for a mammogram, which I'm sure will be tons of fun. And 3) a referral to a podiatrist in Albuquerque to talk to about my plantar fasciitis, who I need to call as soon as I figure out when the heck my work rotation allows me time for an appointment.

And then today I went back in to have blood drawn for whatever it is they like to check your blood for, since they need to do it when you haven't eaten recently. You know what's a great idea? Take someone who does not deal at all well with needles and blood, catch her when she hasn't eaten in twelve hours and is still groggy from sleeping, don't let her have her normal morning maintenance doses of coffee, and then slowly suck out multiple vials of her blood. It's hilarious! Actually, I was sort of doing OK, mostly by not watching, until I heard the phlebotomist (who was clearly new at her job) say something like, "Why is this happening?" and mutter something about the blood going into my arm instead of into the needle. After that, they had to put moist towelettes on my forehead. I am such an incredible wuss about this sort of thing. It's embarrassing. Even if, evolutionarily speaking, it does seem like a pretty good survival instinct. I mean, prior to the advent of modern medicine, blood coming out of you was pretty much never a good thing. (No, smartass, menstrual blood is a different thing and doesn't count.) If something in the back of my brain keeps wanting to scream, "Nooo! That blood is mine! I'm using that to carry oxygen to my tissues, damn it! Hull breach! Hull breach! AOOOOOGA! AOOOOOOOGA!", well, that's only a sensible response, right? even if it does make me feel bad about not being able to give blood.

Anyway, I now have a bandage around my arm. Which kind of hurts. But at least I can take satisfaction in being a responsible adult and getting the most out of my health insurance and stuff.

How About Some Random Links?

Doctor Who Recipes: BBC America shows you how to make a (non-alcoholic) sonic screwdriver, fish fingers with custard (or at least something that looks like custard) and other silly Whovian treats. Now I really have seen everything.

German TV: 'Star Trek' terrorists killed bin Laden: Yes, according to German television, bin Laden was apparently taken down by the Maquis. Best googling failure ever.

The world's most inspiring bookstores: When I'm retired and (somehow) independently wealthy, I think I will dedicate myself to traveling the world and visiting these places. I've already been to Powell's so that's one down. Although I'll probably have to visit it again, for completeness' sake.

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse: Good to know they're planning ahead. I only hope they do better with the actual zombie apocalypse than they did in The Walking Dead.

The General State Of Things

So, um, apparently I've posted here exactly twice this month. Honestly, I swear, I don't know where the hell May came from so suddenly or where it's going to so fast. But I guess I should at least put in a "still not dead" appearance once in a while. So, what's going on at the moment?

Well, first the bad news: my dad called a couple of days ago to say that he was going into the hospital again. Pancreatitis. I try not to worry too much; he's had it before and I'm sure he'll be okay. Still, it sounds like a whole lot of no fun. Get well soon, Dad!

On a happier note, I really did enjoy those five days in a row off that this month's weird work schedule shuffle accidentally gave me. Mostly I spent them getting stuff done around the house and watching DVDs and playing Portal 2. (Which I still haven't quite finished, by the way. The people who complain that game is too short are clearly much better at it than I am.) I have now gone back to work feeling much more relaxed. Which is good, because later this month and into the beginning of June I'm going to have to pay for that lovely time off by working some long-ass weeks.

Also happy-making was the most recent episode of Doctor Who, brought to us by the inimitable Neil Gaiman. I'm still walking around smiling about that one like the sappy fangirl I am.

Otherwise, I have not much to say. Other than, you know, I aten't dead.

Currently, I Am Doing The Currently Meme

It's May ninth already? I have no idea what I've been doing this month. Obviously not blogging. Well, let's see about this thing, anyway:

Current clothes: Black t-shirt with a picture of a Dalek on it. Denim shorts. Black socks. Black sneakers.

Current mood: OK. A little lacking in motivation.

Current music: Nothing at the moment.

Current annoyance: Work has been alternately boring and irritating lately. Also, I just upgraded to Firefox 4 a couple of days ago, and they switched "open in new tab" with "open in new window" on the right-click menu so that I keep accidentally opening new windows, though I think I've almost trained myself out of that now.

Current thing: I don't know. For a while, it was doing nothing except watching DVDs and streaming stuff on the internet. Hey, my internet inexplicably got much faster! Meaning that it became, you know, adequate. I could suddenly stream stuff without it stopping to buffer all the time! It was very exciting! So obviously I had to spend all my time taking advantage of that for a while. And then I guess my thing was catching up on all the stuff I didn't do while I was sitting around watching videos. Now it's just working all the damned time. Soon, however, I will actually have a bunch of days off in a row, and then I will indulge in many things. Many, many things.

Current desktop picture: I haven't even changed it since last month. Or the month before. Shows you how lazy I've been.

Current book: God: The Failed Hypothesis by Victor J. Stenger.

Current song in head: "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd.

Current DVD in player: Nothing in the one in the living room right now. Most recently was a collection of Weird Al Yankovic videos. The one in front of the treadmill has part 2 of The Venture Bros. season 4, since I'm actually starting to get back to walking on it on a regular basis now.

Current refreshment: Nothing at the moment, although I should get some food soon. I'm thinking of going out for a burger.

Current worry: What do you mean, I can't do everything I might conceivably want to do with my life in the five days I have off this week?

Current thought: There's nothing in my brain right now but Pink Floyd. Sorry.

Even If It Is For Science...

Man, I so want to get Portal 2, but based on my experiences with the first game, I really, really don't want to do it while I have a) a bedtime, or b) anything else whatsoever that I need or want to do with my life.

Sigh. I hate being sensible.