FML

So, I just got a call from the eye doctor/optician's office. Apparently they think maybe they screwed something else up besides my prescription and they want me to re-take my eye exam. Which means yet another goddamn trip back and forth to Albuquerque on a day when I'd rather be doing something else, this time on my fucking birthday, because that's the day they had available when I'm not working. (I'm working a hideously extra-long week just before that, because of course I am.) And I still need to make an appointment with the endodontist, too. I tried to do that today, once I finally got my work schedule for the next month, but apparently they close early on Fridays. I probably won't be able to call them until after the holiday. And who knows when I'll even be able to schedule that appointment. I'm willing to bet it won't be the same day so I can only make one trip. Then, of course, I'm going to have to schedule the actual endodontal surgery, and god knows how that's going to work out with my schedule. I just really, really hope I'm allowed to drive myself home from that, because it's not like I've got anybody to bring with me, not on a weekday.

It's enough to make me want to smash my forehead into the keyboard.

nmj m, m,bynjhm

Hmm. No. Don't think that helped.

Eyes And Teeth

So, I took my eyeglasses back to the eyeglass place, and it turns out it was made with the wrong prescription. They were very apologetic about it, and in time-honored tradition, they blamed it on "the new girl." I'm actually kind of glad that it was something that blatantly obvious and didn't involve having to re-take various fiddly measurements. (Although they did double-check where my pupils were centered on the lenses, which is probably a good thing.) And, despite the (not inconsiderable) inconvenience, it may actually have been for the best that they have to remake the lenses. Because I got anti-reflective coating on them, and almost immediately remembered why I didn't get anti-reflective coating last time. They make the lenses ridiculously easy to smudge, and extremely difficult to clean. And the smudges bother me way, way more than the reflections ever have.

In other news, I have been taking antibiotics for my tooth abscess, and now the inside of my mouth tastes like dead bacteria. Yum!

Upsetting Event of the Day

Upsetting event of the day: I was standing in my kitchen, and heard meowing coming from somewhere outside. I looked out, and there was a cat pawing at the doors to my shed like it was trying to get at something in there. And the meowing was coming from inside. From inside my hot metal shed, which hadn't been opened in days. I keep the doors secured with a bungee, and it had snapped, and the doors blew open in the wind. When that happens, I usually check to see if anything's gotten inside before I re-secure the doors, but apparently I didn't look hard enough. Because sure enough, there was a cat in there. Well, probably a kitten, really. I don't think it looked quite big enough to be full-grown.

I was hoping to catch it and take it to the vet. I didn't get a very good look at it, but from what I saw, it didn't look to be in great shape, and it must have been terribly dehydrated. But catching a small cat in my shed is no easy feat. It's full of randomly stacked junk with lots of little cat hiding places. And before I managed to corner it and grab it, it was out and off.

I feel terrible. Also, the inside of my shed now smells like a cat was trapped in it for days.

Man, I hope the poor thing is okay. I left some water out just in case it comes back.

The Tooth? I Can't Handle The Tooth.

So, I finally got to the dentist, and sure enough, I have a tooth abscess. I have a very bad tooth abscess. (Really, it's never a good sign when a medical professional looks at you and goes, "Yow.") Hopefully the tooth isn't going to have to be removed, but salvaging it is going to require a bit of oral surgery. Specifically, an apicoectomy, where they clean out damaged tissue and snip off the end of the root. Aka, yet another unpleasant, expensive, annoying thing that's going to be hard to work in around my work schedule and require multiple trips into the city. SIGH. This being human gig is getting old fast.

Wait, I Don't Think That's Just Me

Seems like the new glasses are actually wrong, rather than just needing time to adjust to them. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have to tuck my chin all the way down into my chest to clearly read a sign five feet away. SIGH. Why can't anything just work properly the first time?

Various Things

Because I haven't been updating much lately, here is one post about various things.

1. I was really sorry to hear about the recent death of actor Stephen Furst. I loved his character Vir in Babylon 5 so much I named a cat after him. After I heard the news, I sort of just went and stared sadly at the cat for a while.

2. My car is now in the shop getting the damage from being scraped in the parking lot fixed. Meanwhile, I have a rental, a Hyundai Sonata. This is a much more high-tech car than my Fit. It greets me with a little musical fanfare when I get in, which I honestly find somewhat unsettling. It seems like a decent car; it's got a pretty good ride. But it has led me to a new appreciation of one of the Fit's selling points: visibility. I've got a lot less of a view of the world around me in this one. I keep trying to adjust the rear view mirror for a better view and then realizing, no, that's just all the window I've got back there.

3. I also have new glasses. They are strange and uncomfortable and slightly nausea-inducing. Probably just because I need to get used to them, not because there's anything really wrong with them. It's worse with the progressive lenses than with the regular kind. Stupid aging body.

And, OK. Three things is probably enough for now, right?

The Southwest, Like Space, Is Big.

So, I did call to make arrangements to have the repair work done on my car in a couple of weeks. (Per one of the many things I complained about yesterday under "current annoyance.") Progressive, as usual, has been really good to deal with, but I am always amused by the reactions of people who don't live out here when I encounter them in situations like this. The insurance agent, judging from her area code, is in Ohio. And when she went to look up which repair services they have on their preferred list, the conversation went something like this:

HER: Oh, wow, I don't see one within fifty miles of your zip code. Well, you can choose any repair shop you want that's nearby...

ME: Yeah, I doubt there is a body shop within fifty miles of me. I really do live in the middle of nowhere. Check in Albuquerque.

HER: *does so* Oh, but it says the nearest one to you is seventy miles.

ME: Yep. That's Albuquerque. That's where I was expecting to have to go. It's the nearest actual city.

HER: I can't believe you'd have to drive that far!

ME: Eh. I know people who drive that far to get groceries. Oh, by the way, my policy covers a rental car, right? Because I'm going to need one of those to get home.

Heh. I've seen plenty of amusing stories about European tourists coming to the US and thinking they can, like, fly into NYC and take a quick overnight trip to visit the Grand Canyon or something, but even people in other parts of the country don't necessarily understand how very big and empty it is out here. I know it sure took me a long time to get used to it.

June Currentlies

OK, this is a bit earlier than I usually do this. But, as tends to happen after I spend a whole month posting here in April, I mostly sort of disappeared in May. So I figured it was time to put in an appearance.

Current clothes: Blue denim shorts. A dark gray t-shirt that says "Please Go Away. I'm Reading." White ankle socks.

Current mood: Mostly OK. A little low-energy. It's warm, and my swamp cooler isn't working, and I think it's making me slightly wilty. Also my brain is now suddenly trying to worry about stupid things. Or possibly not-stupid things. Not knowing whether the things I'm worrying about are stupid or not is one of the things I worry about.

Current music: Nothing, really.

Current annoyance: There are so many things I have to arrange and make happen, and my work schedule does not make it easy. I still need to get my sewer pipe replaced, and that really needs to happen pretty soon. And now I need to get my swamp cooler fixed, too. I need to pick up my new glasses in Albuquerque, since I have to go there for glasses now that the eye doctor in town retired. I also need to go to the dentist. (Which is the thing I've been worrying about, because there's this lump on my jaw over where I had the root canal. It's been there for quite a while, I think, and it doesn't hurt, but I just noticed how disturbingly big it is and it's probably nothing, but of course now my brain is all, "OMG, if it's not some horrible abscess that is going to make me lose the tooth, it's probably jaw cancer!" Shut up, brain. But I am due for an exam and a cleaning, and I should have it looked at.) Oh, and I need to arrange to take my car in for repairs, because somebody scraped up against it in the Walmart parking lot the other day. It's only got minor damage, and because it was unambiguously not my fault I don't even have to pay the deductible, but it is going to mean having to get it into a body shop, probably in Albuquerque. And I do not know when I'm going to get all this crap done, especially as I'm on night shifts next week, and nothing happens during the day when I'm on night shifts.

Current thing: Based on the above, I'm going to say having too damned much to do and not getting it done.

Current desktop picture: This great image of Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. I am going to miss him so much. Even if that last episode wasn't actually very good.

Current book: I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) by Chuck Klosterman. I'm not very far into it, but so far I'm liking it.

Current song in head: Nothing much at the moment. I know, so boring.

Current refreshment: Lemon-ginger tea.

Current DVD in player: I just finished season one of Sons of Anarchy. And I'm surprised my how much I enjoyed it. Man, if somebody had just told me this was basically Biker Hamlet, I would have started watching it years ago.

Current happy thing: I'm not working today! That's always good.

Current thought: Real Life is annoying. I just want to go read some more.