a little squish

I just finished reading [Chemistry] by Weike Wang. It's a novel about a Chinese woman working toward her PhD in chemistry and dealing with the stereotypical strictness and high expectations of her Asian parents, among other things.

It's quirky, it's relatively short, I liked it. It marks 30 books read so far this year in my quest to read 26 books this year. I've overachieved even though I'm not a child of Tiger Parents.

But this isn't a reading challenge update. When I read the above quote, I immediately thought of a conversation I recently had at work with Party Girl and Daffodil. Party Girl was feeling self conscious about having a realtor come to her house.

Party Girl has a little house she bought and lived in after divorce from husband #2. She then married husband #3 (current), moved into his house, and turned the other house into a rental. Now, she's looking to sell the rental.

So the realtor was coming over to the house she currently lives in, not the one she's looking to sell. But due to the realtor being a realtor, Party Girl was self conscious of the scrutiny of her carpets, the colors of her walls, etc.

Daffodil jumped in with some soothing advice:

"When I'm dealing with something like that, I tell myself, 'I'm sure they've seen worse."

...which I feel is a corollary to the above quote from Chemistry. Much less anxiety inducing.

All this to say that I had my routine mammogram today.

Despite my having the nickname ["Cow"] for most of my formative years, it was not for my "udders". I've never been "busty", but rather quite an un-busty, small boned, 50% Filipina.

So while I'm certain my mammographer has seen more voluptuousness, I know I'm at the low end, and I was reminded of Daffodil's counsel. I was further put at ease when I noticed a couple of Asian women in the waiting area, if y'know what I'm sayin'. It's possible that I "outranked" them?

Now, I don't mean to make light of breast cancer. I'm personally at low risk, so I guess I find something else to worry about on mammogram day.

ring of power

Our power went out last night. I do what most people I imagine do when that happens. I immediately check to see if neighbor homes are without power as well, and usually that's the case. This time, however, the evidence confirmed it was just us. 

It was eerie because we had JUST finished watching [Bugonia]. Honestly, I'd just exited Netflix as the credits had been rolling. For those not familiar, Bugonia is a Sci-Fi, alien conspiracy story starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. It kept me guessing until the end, and I found it brought up several thought-provoking themes. 

So I was deep in the throes of pondering, "what the heck did we just watch?" when *ZHUUUP* Power outage and total darkness and quiet.

We managed to locate our main breaker, which had been tripped, and get the juice flowing again. Logic says it tripped from larger than typical energy usage - likely our AC units - but maybe the aliens were just messing with us. 

We did discover bees or wasps starting to make a hive/nest in our breaker box, and it so happens that bees/beekeeping is a theme in Bugonia. Call me crazy... (or don't. That's okay)

We also watched [Apex] starring Charlize Theron. It was predictable, rather implausible, but entertaining enough. Met expectations, invoked no power outages.

We did a "heated" bicycle ride this morning. Apparently, exerting oneself in the heat has certain health benefits as long as it doesn't kill. We both survived, so I'll consider it a beneficial morning. Shady stretches were much welcomed, sun drenched stretches felt like riding over hot coals. Good balance.

Last weekend, I got a pneumonia vaccine. I noticed that the friendly pharmacist jabbed me nearly right on top of my smallpox vaccine scar. Those of us who own one of those are becoming fewer and farther between. 

Enhanced mine for clarity in the photo. Got one?

It's like having a special license plate that says "vintage" or "classic".

Right??

toys and field trips

I'm sitting here in a state of languor, nursing a head cold. I was hoping I'd dodged the start-of-the-school-year virus as others around me at work were dropping like flies, but alas, no. 

I'd had a satisfyingly productive week prior to my affliction. Tuesday evening, I went to PEO and returned home after dark. Across-the-street neighbor had his vehicle parked in his driveway, facing our house. The headlights were on - or I should say - the long continuous horizontal beam of light was on. 

And I thought, "Is that a Cybertruck?", the light beam being too bright for me to really make out what was behind it. 

The next morning, I was out wandering the neighborhood and saw that yes, there was a brand  new Cybertruck in ATS neighbor's driveway. I've seen a handful of Cybertrucks around town, but never up close. Since ATS was out there with his new toy, I decided to go over and nose around. He seemed all too happy for a little show-and-tell.

One of my first observations was that they're not as big as they seemed when I'd seen them from a distance. I show it here only to display the juxtaposition against the adventure vehicle parked alongside - our trash day bins included for artful composition.

He opened all the doors and rolled back the cover to show the surprisingly large bed. The interior looked... similar to any other new truck.

Not for me, certainly, but he seems very happy with it. Said he'd been waiting six years, having ordered it when they first came out in 2019. 

Meanwhile, Magnum has taken our little gas-only truck up the road to Cheyenne, WY for it's first oil change. Recall, we bought the truck about a year ago - as a second vehicle, worthy of winter driving. Welp, last winter was such a mild one, the truck did a lot of sitting in the garage. 

I decided to hang back so to not expose the Cheyeneites to my Colorado germs, and Magnum keeps sending me pics of the surrounding sights.

Yep, that's a big cowboy boot, alright.

Wyominging.

polishing

Way back in the days of my illustrious but short career as a middle school lunch lady, I was the Grill Queen. Nothing gustatorily creative, of course, but I whipped up many grilled cheeses and grilled ham and cheeses. Too many to count.

These days, we have our own little griddle. Neglected thing. I bought it shortly after we moved here, got it all seasoned, used it a couple of times then realized, "it is way to freaking hot on that back patio, let alone slaving over a hot griddle!", and there it sat, covered for seemingly all eternity.

We have since built a patio enclosure, including an overhanging roof where the little Blackstone has been living its lonely existence. After much procrastination, I finally got around to cleaning and re-seasoning over the weekend. Now, what to do? Grilled cheeses?

Meanwhile, I am currently doctorless. Not that that's related in any way to grilling. 

I had a nearby doctor - a PA really. That practice got bought out by a bigger fish, and after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, most of the staff jumped ship, including my PA.

I got shifted to another doctor that I'd never met before she, too, left. Just before my most recent checkup, I was shuffled to yet another, who miraculously, is still there. Since then, the company that caused all the drama in the first place sold the practice off to another. Now my doctor is no longer in our insurance network, wouldn't ya know. 

Magnum found another practice and got signed up. I lazily piggy backed off of him since he did all the legwork of review-reading, etc. So the dilemma = they can't sign me up with a doc until I make an appointment for a general checkup. I'm not eligible for a general checkup until next spring. 

Bottom line, no doctor for me.

Doctor YouTube, it is. So basically, nothing's changed.

progressing

Well, this probably had the neighbors wondering:

Yesterday, phase one of the "catio" mission was completed as the concrete people finished up their thing. A cement mixer spun out front as two men tag-teamed several wheelbarrows. Now we wait for phase two.

The photo reminds me that I need to get back on my driveway crack weeds. Recall that I'd hoped to find a good tool to help with the job, but googling "crack hoe" brought up much irrelevance, along with a few useful suggestions.

Yesterday, we went out to do some tire-kicking. We're shopping for a new vehicle. We have two smallish vehicles that are economically wonderful, but not so great when it comes to getting around in the snow or getting out to the boonies. We live in Colorado = snow and boonies... winter's coming. 

We have a model in mind and went to a nearby dealership to check one out, but the object of our affection had been put to work as a service loaner. Will they now keep it in the service loaner fleet? I'd say it no longer counts as "new" if put up for sale. Bottom line, we didn't test or purchase anything. 

Afterwards, we stopped for unhealthy and delicious Chick-fil-A. While there, we noticed a lot of students in CU Buffalo garb. Yesterday was the "Rocky Mountain Showdown" football game of Colorado State vs. Colorado, held here with CSU the home team.

I currently live in the hometown of Colorado State, but my alma matre is Colorado-Boulder. I wouldn't mind living in Boulder now, but who can afford it? (I seriously wonder)

Clearly, CU has the more appealing mascot. I don't know why CSU's mascot has such a grumpy face.

In other news, I spent time yesterday researching menopause. (Sorry, guys. Feel free to leave now, I won't be offended). Geesh, what a can of worms. If menstruation's a "curse", menopause is the not-so-nice sequel. I think I feel fine, for the most part, but maybe my brain's too foggy to know any better? Maybe I shouldn't have researched, and ignorance is bliss.

Magnum and I took a gratifying bike ride this morning. We stopped by an "[Open Streets]" event happening today. 

I finally learned how to put my bicycle on the metro bus rack. Oh, the possiblities...

tooth or consequences

I had a checkup at the dentist this week. Recall that I'd scheduled it for about a month ago, but got a call that the substitute hygienist broke her shoulder. No cleaning for me.

Regular hygienist is still away on vacation, sub hygienist is still recovering, so it was the good dentist himself who cleaned my teeth. Seemed a bit strange to have the big chief doing the scraping, but he's actually very personable and humble. He did a good jack-of-all-trades job. 

The office recently got a 3D scanner, so the thing spun around my head a bit. After my cleaning, the good doctor summoned me to see my scans. It was like being asked to report to the principal's office.

"Do you have trouble with your sinus?"

Ohmigosh yes.

"Yeah, cuz you don't have any bone there", pointing to the image of the obvious hole in my head. There is a tunnel between my mouth and my left maxillary sinus, from where a tooth used to be.

Honestly, it wasn't anything I didn't already know. Flashback to 2019 when I battled with  a bum tooth - #14 for those in the know.

It ended with a gruesome extraction after a failed attempt to save it.

I didn't even care to try to save it, and was ultimately glad to just be rid of the thing. And it continues to haunt me from the grave. When the oral surgeon extracted the tooth, he had to go up into my sinus to get all of it, thus forming the aforementioned "tunnel". I recall it feeling so weird, like my whole face was open to the air. 

In the few days that followed, mucus from my sinus would trickle into my mouth through the tooth hole. ICK! TMI!

The gum eventually healed over, but the bone never reformed. Denist says I "need" a bone graft. I say, "eh". Really, it hardly bothers me. There's got to be other people walking around with similar holes in their heads, right?

In other news, my weather tab says it's 102 degrees outside but feels like 106. Is there much difference at that point? Relative humidity is 5% - a dry heat it is!

It's my turn to work the Saturday rotation tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the A/C.

mammos and mamas

"You have a birthmark on your back?"

"Oh... uh, yeah"

"It's cool!"

"Hmm, thanks?"

Yesterday was a typical Monday. I did a shift at the testing center, came home and had an online tutor sesh. Afterwards, Magnum and I took the dogs for a walk before the predicted storms moved in. Mid dog walk, I suddenly remembered...

"Oh sh*t, I have a mammogram in about 15 minutes!"

I handed Penny's leash to Magnum and high tailed it home, trying to get the optimum balance of speed without working up much of a sweat - out of courtesy to the mammographer. I'm not sure what made me suddenly remember my appointment, maybe a mammogram angel. Anyway, I got to the clinic just in time, acting as if nothing was awry.

The mammographer was friendly as has always been my experience. I think being personable and competent are both parts of the job description considering the procedure. 

In between all the groping and squishing, she made the comment about my birthmark, which I often forget is there. The birthmark is quite large, and not really a single mark, but more of a splotchy pattern covering a good portion of my left upper back.

Some say that birthmarks are indications of how we died in past lives. I figure maybe I was a 3-pack-a-day smoker?

Either way, I'm glad that humiliation is over for another year. Thank you, mammogram angel.

In other news, we did attend coworker Kitty's shotgun wedding reception on Saturday. It was a nice, chill, intimate gathering at a pleasant outdoor venue. The weather cooperated nicely. 

There was an arch where a photographer was capturing pics of the evening. All except for Grandboss, Party Girl, and Sarge showed, and Kitty asked for the coworker contingency to take a few snaps.

We did a few poses for the photographer, and Magnum took a few like this one captured between poses. I think it's a more realistic display.

I'm contemplating if we should really be in charge of a pricey component of people's professional futures.

become young

Another nice week down. This was a nice one because it was relatively uncluttered, and we know I don't like clutter.

• I had the usual shifts at the testing center, but no tutoring as the semester officially ended on Monday. Then Thursday was a short day because we closed early for commencement. No political upheavals to affect the ceremonies. 

The only "unrest" I've been aware of at our campus was when the Student Life department installed menstrual product dispensers in all the bathrooms, including the men's rooms. Apparently some of the fellas either were offended or thought the products were funny, so engaged in some sort of retalitory vandalism. 

• Chaco called us Friday night to have us go out and look for the Northern Lights.  It was cloudy where he was, but we had clear skies. The lights were apparently visible here, but too much light pollution to see anything from our neighborhood. 

Magnum took a photo with his phone, which can apparently see better than we can, and this is the best we got from our neighborhood.

I'll have to take the word of the locals who trekked out to the boonies

• These last few weeks seemed to be cluttered with various appointments - my physical therapy sessions as well as getting all the pets examined and vaccinated. I've managed to wrap all those up for the time being. I also had my annual blood screen this week, and am glad to report that everything came back green for go. 

• I'm glad I did the physical therapy bit. I received good care and information and am running again and doing better. It really is all connected like that song we learned when were were kids... "foot bone's connected to the leg bone, leg bone's connected to the..." Throw in muscles, ligaments, tendons, and it's a busy place!

• On that note, I'm sort of thinking about taking EMT classes at the college. I have no desire to be gainfully employed as an EMT or paramedic, but it seems like it would be good knowledge to have. I know of others who have done so, or who have completed a CNA course to care for a family member.  I'll check for "employee discounts" if any and consider the time commitment.  Now that we're fully staffed again, maybe I can fit the classes in.

I thought I would get in some sketchbook action this week with the extra time available, but that time got filled up with more responsible things. 

"It took my whole life to learn to draw like a child"
                                                    ~ Picasso

I'm working on it, Pablo.

pow, right in the...

College is closed, having us a snow day, although there's not a whole lot of snow out there at the moment. Tomorrow is already a "remote operations" day, which in my case means simply another day of no testing center.

I do have a couple of tutees to zoom with later, so not a total day of langor. It IS Pi Day, afterall. I've showered. 

And we have a few signs of spring already. I snapped this pic a few days ago along the creek path.

So, yesterday morning I was at the gym and doing some of my PT exercises. Now, I'd gone to the PT originally because of a fritzed foot, and the foot feels fine now. But the issue exposed hip weakness as the likely cause.

I say weakness, and "Dr. J" countered with opportunites

"I'm a tutor, I play those same word games", I made known. 

Dr. J is a super nice guy and knowledgeable physician, quick to establish rapport. I've learned lots from him and am glad of my decision to give PT a try.

One area we've been working is my TFL muscle, which I'd never known of before. If one is wearing a pair of girl jeans with teeny girl pockets, and puts the finger tips in the teeny pocket, their fingers are on or very close to the TFL. 

I had dry needling in the TFL at my last appointment, and Dr. J was very keen on how that might be an emotionally/mentally sensitive area for him to be accessing - getting my reassurance, letting me tuck the drape into my elastic waist band, etc. - before him going in. 

Seriously, I had no qualms. He's a doctor, plus I knew from other dry needling sessions on other areas that this would be helpful, and it was.

So yesterday, I was at the gym, working on my opportunities, and I guess I stood up weird or something and felt a little *tweak* right near the pubic bone, right in the cooch.

It was at that point I wished I had a female PT. Although I'm sure the structure of whatever I'd tweaked is present in both men and women, how to phrase it if I asked Dr. J about it?

"... right in the vag/ cooch/ cha cha/ girly bits/ etc..."

Thankfully, it improved as the day wore on, and I've no more sensation of "it". But this is the main reason I typically prefer a female doctor. My PCP is female, and I have an annual checkup coming up shortly.

We'll probably talk briefly of "sensitive" topics - like allergies and stuff - before moving on to her updating me on her kids.

looking from a window above

Happy Saturday, it's been a busy week. Let's see, I...

• was installed as chapter Prez at PEO
• met with all the tutees
• worked an extra shift to fill in for a coworker
• had another dry needling sesh with the PT

All in all, a good week, and I'm ready for the weekend - only to lose an hour of it.

One of my tutees is a high school kid who is the spitting image of Alison Moyet from her Yaz days - complete with eye makeup and hairstyle. 

Seriously, it's uncanny, to the point I almost asked them (preferred pronoun) if they purposely modeled themselves after her. Good times, those '80s!

But I haven't asked. "Alison" is quite intelligent. Wants to go to Yale. We shall see.

I've got one more PT session scheduled in a couple of weeks, and that's meant to be the end of it. It's been a good experience, and it's up to me to keep up with the exercises. The dry needling's been interesting, and I'm glad I decided to give it a try.

In other health news, a couple of articles crossed my radar this week. One article touting several benefits of beer almost has me jumping off the wagon I decided to jump on last year. The article mentions that some of the benefits come from studies of non-alcoholic beer, but I never really understood the point of such a thing.

Another piece of info was from a youtuber saying that menopausal women should get a good amount of calories from fat. From that, I did dig a bit deeper and found that

"...fats can help your body absorb nutrients it needs and may reduce the frequency and severity of menopause symptoms"

Something to do with estrogen. And there's the qualifier "healthy fats" like avocados (which I can't stand 🤢) . So... no cheesecake then?

Anyway, eat, drink, and be merry. For tonight, we lose an hour.

Thank your husband and electric needles.

"Tell your husband 'Thanks!' for shoveling our sidewalk!", he cheered from his driveway.

"Oh, sure, no problem!", I hailed back

Neighbor Guy next door. I noticed during our recent snow storm(s) that no one seemed to be home for a while over there, so when I was out shoveling, I shoveled their sidewalk as well. Tell your husband - pffft. 

And I did tell Magnum, we chuckled a bit over it. I don't hold it against Neighbor Guy. I guess it's "normal" to assume the resident man handles the shoveling of snow. Neighbor Guy is a rather burly manly man himself who takes care of the outside of the house. I don't know him that well, but he always seems friendly.

And honestly, I rather enjoy shoveling snow. As long as it's not bunches of it, wet and heavy. Magnum does share in the task, but for the most part, especially before he began working from home, it was one of my chief duties. It's only fair since he brings home the Lion's share of our income. 

My coworker, Sarge, is in a similar boat. His wife is the main earner for his family, so he picks up the "house work". Yes, out there clearing the snow, etc. and also doing most of the cooking and shopping, driving the kids around... Equity and Inclusion, we're on it!

I went for a sloggish run this morning. Recall I've been off the running while dealing with a fritzed foot. It's been feeling better, but then I caught a cold, and then we were hit with an arctic blast - neither conducive to start running again.

This week, I had another appointment with the physical therapist, and he somewhat "assigned" me to go for a short run-walk this weekend and report back. Felt pretty good actually, though a bit cold and I had to deal with annoying ice in several places. Plus being out of shape *huff puff*. But the foot held together.

We did the dry needling thing at this last appointment. It felt... interesting. I didn't watch the process at all - first hit was in the outside of my calf while I laid on my back, second was in my lower back/hip while I laid on my stomach, so I didn't exactly have a view of either anyway. 

But he inserted (I think) two needles each time, then added electric stimulation to the needles, so there was this pulsing going on in there - like in [this youtube short] I found. He did that to the areas for about 2 minutes each. 

It felt neither amazing nor painful, but it was a very gentle feeling. Like the cat when he prods me to let him under the covers.

Let you go

I've taken today and yesterday off of work since I'm still dealing with this dang cold. I feel okay, actually. I'm sure I could perform my "job duties as assigned" just fine, but I'm still a bit congested and scratchy and don't want to sicken my coworkers. Our work setting is an open "corral", so not much for social distancing. I explained to Boss that I wasn't quite fit for humanity just yet.

As such, I've been feeling a bit restless while holed up at home. But The Great Declutter of 2024 has been going quite well.

On Monday, I tried to drop a couple of bags of donations at ARC,  but they had stopped taking donations by the time I got there. Fine, I drove over to Goodwill, which turned out to be closed for New Year's Day.  So I came back home and scheduled a pickupplease.org truck. They're coming next Wednesday.

In the meantime, I've been working on filling up more stuff for the truck. I think I've gathered about all I care to donate right now, and the rest of the crap is going in the trash, unworthy.

I'd thought myself a minimalist, but still had much to answer for. For example:

• Handfuls of panty hose?? I rarely wear panty hose. Much of it must have been from my corporate working girl days 27+ freaking years ago. I've been schlepping that along each time we've moved?
• Extension cords. So. Many. Extension cords.
• Cinch sacks - from employee orientations and road race paraphernalia, cinch sacks are/were the handout of choice for so many. Be gone!

I also happily sold a couple of items through Marketplace: a fully waterproof backpack we hardly ever used and a double-wide computer monitor I haven't used since downsizing to just a laptop. Both items sold quickly and went to, I believe, good homes. 

• I met with a young "dude"  at a pizza place downtown to exchange the backpack. He plans to use it for rafting - perfect.
• A young dad met me in a nearby parking lot for the monitor. He said he has the same model already, so now he'll have double-double! 

Everybody's happy.

Lastly, I've been chipping away at this 1000-piece puzzle from step-MIL that we started on Christmas. Claude Monet. 

So much sky. So much water. So many pieces look alike. I hate/must finish it!  

Damn you, Monet!

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linking up with [John] for Mama Kat this week for the prompt:

1. Share something that you worked on this week.

moving on

Okay, holiday season is over. Time to get on with the business of getting through the winter. 

The break was nice, but I was ready to get back to work yesterday. As it was, we only gave four, count 'em FOUR tests the whole day. And it was only for two people because one guy did three tests. Talk about easing back into it. 

Boss had closed a bunch of things down, however, "just in case", so it was expected. I'm off today, but the schedule looks to be back to normal now.

New Year's Eve and day were non-events here. I think I was in bed by 9pm on Sunday. Plus, Magnum was down with Man Flu. Now, a few days later, it appears that I've contracted it as well. It feels like... a head cold.

Anyway, I "worked" with Sarge and Boss yesterday. We did a bit of tidying and updating things with all that free time. In discussing our New Year's reveling, theirs was as boring as mine. I mentioned my start of "The Great Declutter of 2024", and Sarge talked of painting his basement. Party animals, I tellya.

We did talk of "the old days" when we could go into work the following morning after a night of drinking. In my younger days, I'd worked at a hotel restaurant. Some mornings, the sight of the empty booze bottles from the bar the night before could make things a bit rough. Sarge told us that he'd worked on a garbage truck for a while and recalled collecting garbage while hungover. Ugh, yeah, that would've definitely been worse.

Now, here we are, cleaning house and painting basements. Did our younger selves see this coming?

saddle, sorting, and needles

A saddle, in geography, is defined as the lowest area between two peaks. I think of the week between Christmas and New Year as a saddle week. This one's been pretty productive... mostly.

• I've been doing some tidying, which I have since learned is a tradition in some cultures so as to start the new year with a "clean slate". I went through some boxes of stored goods while grumbling under my breath, thinking it was "junk" we've been storing for our kids. I was all ready to unload it upon them, only to find that it was mostly our stuff we never unpacked when we moved here four years ago. Ooops.

So I'm sorting through that, determined to rid us of "stored stuff". If we're gonna use it, it should be out among the living. I did find a few kid things, so my grumbling skills weren't totally a waste.

• Christmas here was a pleasant low-key affair. Meego and Wolfgang came over for food, gaming, dog walking, puzzle building, etc. And we speaker phoned a bit with Chaco, who relocated to the DC area for work not long ago.

Speaking of food and storage, while I was doing some actual cooking for Christmas, I came upon this little cast iron skillet I "won" back in 2020. As I remember it, the nursing home where I was working at the time had daily random drawings for staff to select a gift from a pile o' stuff during the days leading up to Christmas.

My name miraculously came up, and I selected the cute skillet, I think mainly because it was nicely portable for bringing home on my bicycle. It came with a small packet of brownie mix for making one round brownie in the pan. I remember making the brownie on Christmas, and the 5 of us split it into teeny tiny brownies. 

If it'd been a marijuana brownie, I doubt it would've had much affect after divying it up 5 ways. 

The skillet then got stashed with its larger siblings, hardly thought of again. But this week, I saw someone on reddit, who had received such a skillet for Christmas, asking what to use it for. The overwhelming response was "an egg!!"

Omigosh, it's the perfect vessel for making a one-off poached egg. I've been doing that in the days since the discovery while needing to chip away at all this damn leftover Christmas ham.

• Also this week, I visited that physical therapy place about my fritzed foot. They'd offered a special promo, so I partook. But the foot's been feeling better, and I figured I'd listen to the assessment, then likely continue to treat it myself. 

Welp, that didn't happen. The good Dr. uncovered weakness in my right hip - not a total secret to me - as likely the root of my problem and mapped out a good sense plan of attack.  After the initial treatment hurt so good, I'd plunked down the HSA card and paid for six sessions. 

He wants to do some "dry needling" - a term of which I've heard for treating sports injuries, but know nothing. I'm about to access doctor google, but it sounds kind of like acupuncture, which I've never had. I'm going for it.

people

It's crowded here again. Nothing obnoxious, but the elbow room of summer has noticeably diminished. I understand that enrollment at the university is approximately 30,000 students. Their fall semester starts tomorrow, and freshman move-in happened in waves last week, so that was particularly noticeable with all the freshman parents in tow as well.

On a more subdued change, our semester at the college also starts tomorrow, but we're just a community college - no dorms, no sports. I doubt that anyone comes from "far and wide" to attend. My schedule will change slightly - same days of the week, same number of hours. Coworker Triple Dee teaches a class, so I'm swapping a couple of shifts with her to accommodate her class times, and I'm looking forward to the change if, for none other than it being a change. Ho hum. We had our tutoring ducks-in-a-row meeting as well, so let the games begin.

Earlier this week, I was at the downtown library. It was mainly an excuse for a joyride on my bicycle, and I did have a book to return. I stopped in the ladies room before heading home, and while I was washing my hands, a bearded guy emerged from one of the stalls. 

Another woman was washing her hands beside me and gave me a little sideward glance like, "what the hell?", but we didn't say anything. He didn't bother me - was using the facilities and not doing anything creepy. 

SOURCE

Outside, as I was unlocking my trusty bicycle, the-bearded-from-the-bathroom passed by me, heading toward the parking lot. I glanced over and realized, "he" was not a guy, but a woman with a full-on neck beard, possibly a case of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or similar.

Not long ago, Party Girl shared with me that she used to be quite hairy. She spoke of arm hair she could comb, chest and belly fuzz, chin and neck fur, and her lap - a veritable forest of pubes. 

You'd never know it today. She explained that she had it all lasered off at some point, all except her face. 

But she did have the neck beard going on. For that, she said, she'd had routine, painful electrolysis. It was at one of those sessions that the electolysiser mentioned PCOS.

Party Girl said she asked her doctor about it, and her doctor said, "No, you don't have that", reasoning  that, "you're not hairy other than your face".

Hello? Laser removal? But he just shut her down.

She (smartly) got a new doctor... and meds to control her facial hair.

I've heard of bearded women who are comfortable letting it grow. I'm glad we didn't confront the "guy" in the bathroom before noticing she was a woman. 

sober saturday

I worked with Party Girl yesterday. Sleepy Man revisited us after he, not surprisingly, failed his first attempt last week. He stayed awake the whole time with us yesterday (still didn't pass). Seems like a nice guy, actually. I hope the third time's a charm.

A woman around 40 years old came in for a GED module. She instantly struck me as not your typical GED-er. One chief factor was her age (most are teens and twenties), but she was also very well kempt and articulate. In fact, when I checked her ID, the photo barely resembled the woman in front of me - enough to raise my proctorly suspicions. 

The photo on her driver's license showed a woman with hair pulled back away from a defiant looking and slightly chubbier face, heavily smeared with eyeliner. The woman in front of me resembled a wholesome Toni Collette. 

She chatted with us for a bit before she left, explaining that she wants to get her Master of Addiction Counseling license and needs the GED as prerequisite to get that ball rolling. She was excited about working at a new rehab center opening locally and shared that she was "five and a half years sober!"

We smilingly congratulated her, looking forward to seeing her through her GED progress. As soon as she was out of earshot, I looked to Party Girl.

"Yeah, I'm going for margaritas after this", she predictably divulged with a chuckle.

Now, we give Party Girl grief about her drinking, but not in an intervention kind of way. It's more of a coworker-banter kind of way. She acknowledges her "need" for alcohol, but she does seem to be able to control herself and is also one of the most responsible people I know. Let me count the ways:

• She reliably and diligently carries her share of the load at work
• She manages and maintains a rental property
• She has a good relationship with her stepkids, whose scene she entered when they were young teenagers
• She devotedly cares for her elderly memory-challenged father

In addition, she regularly tutors an 11-year-old Mormon boy. I include the "Mormon" to emphasize that Party Girl passed the family's clean cut scrutiny.

All this makes me wonder just what she would be like if she were to become "clean". 

She told me a friend asked her to come over after work and help design some landscaping for their yard. There would be margaritas. 

"I told them just one or two margaritas", she explained, "which we all know means two", she added.

Yes, we know. And I bet the landscaping will be splendid.

perchance to dream

What's it gonna be today? I'm gearing up to go to work at the testing center in a bit. I was off yesterday and tutored. On Tuesday, we dealt with a couple of characters. 

One was a woman who had "to pee so bad!" during her test. My coworker told her that we have no way to stop her test once it begins. She'd be allowed to take breaks, but the test will keep running. Her test (law enforcement) included videos and subsequent relevant questions.

Maybe giving her the "sure you don't want to use the restroom before you begin?" planted a subliminal need to pee. We could see her stand up and dance in place mid-test. I went to her and offered to let her use our shortcut to and from the facilities. She happily took me up on it.

Around the same time, we had another in the same room as need-to-pee lady who had trouble staying awake. Twice we noticed him with his head on his desk, and upon checking on him, found him snoozing away. Assistant Boss and I took turns waking him up. Granted, he was taking an insurance license exam. *YAWN*. 

We pondered the cause. Had he been burning the midnight oil? Did he take a couple of bong hits prior to the test to calm his nerves, and it worked all too well? Then I wondered if he had narcolepsy.

Years ago, I worked with a narcoleptic, Ross. I remember walking by a conference room with another coworker and noticing Ross looking deeply engaged in some documents in his lap. 

"Heh, Ross looks like he's sleeping", I quipped.

My coworker nonchalantly replied, "Yep, he probably is".

That's how I learned Ross had narcolepsy and that it was pretty well-known among people who regularly attended meetings with him. Ross was a nice guy and accomplished engineer. At the time, he'd recently married for the first time at the ripe age of late 40s. I learned his wife was giving him sh*t about his narcolepsy - not thrilled about him randomly dozing off while they were socializing. 

I suppose there are treatments and strategies available for managing narcolepsy, and I would guess that taking an insurance license exam on a summer afternoon isn't one of them.

weekend bullets

And so ends another week. Time goes faster the older you get, it's true. 

• I worked at the college yesterday as my turn came up in the Saturday rotation.  I was teamed with Assistant Boss who struggles somewhat with dyslexia. He seemed more challenged than usual yesterday after a problem with an early check-in had him a bit frazzled for the rest of the shift.

He confided to me that he thinks his dyslexia is getting worse as he gets older (he's late 50's). From my observation, it seems he has developed anxiety from the potential mistakes as a result of the dyslexia. Maybe it's the compound effects of dyslexia + anxiety about dyslexia making it seem worse.  End result: it's worse, but not terrible.

On a lighter note, we had chuckles from a test candidate from China whose name was pronounced "Wrong Way" (she found it amusing too). Made us wonder if our names mean anything in other languages? Hopefully nothing embarrassing. 

• I decided to stop "drinking" a little over three months ago. At that time, the extent of my so-called drinking was splitting a lite beer with Magnum most evenings. So, I figured it wasn't really doing much for me, so what was the point? Admittedly, I did/ do miss the taste of it in a habitual kind of way, especially now that we're in the heat of summer and a "cold one" sounds enticing. 

Last weekend, we went out to eat with the guys for Father's Day, and they each ordered (not lite) beers. I got a slight buzz just from sampling them. If I wasn't a lightweight before, I definitely am now.

• 38-year-old Courtney Dauwalter from Leadville, CO won the Western States 100-mile ultra race by smashing the previous record for women. 

I enjoy running, and I have absolutely NO desire to EVER run 100 miles. I don't even have the desire to run a full marathon - something all kinds of people pay money to do. 

That said, I would happily run 100 miles through the mountains before I would ever get into a deep-sea submersible.

 

support services

I got to work a couple days ago for my closing shift. Boss sat me down as soon as I arrived.

"Sheesh", I thought, "haven't even changed my shoes and I'm already in for a mundane story?"

But no, it was actually work related. Assistant boss, my closing companion, was out with Strep. Eew. Boss said he himself would stay late, but he had an eye appointment - of which he thankfully held back on the mundane details for once - that he didn't want to reschedule. 

"Party Girl is going to come in until Work Study gets here, then it's just you and Work Study after that".

Okay, that would work. We are required to have at least two people at any given shift. A workstudy student probably counts more like a half a staff (limited access to things), but we wouldn't tell anyone. In short, it was me running the ship with Work Study, my faithful side kick.

I mentioned that Work Study has an emotional support dog? Well, she brought the snarling, vicious cur. 

Just look at this junkyard dog!

He's a mix of 3 little breeds I easily have forgotten, but he's about 15 pounds of pure cute.

I typically prefer larger, more athletic, less yappy pooches, but this ones a keeper. Never a yap to be yapped from his fluffy self.

The afternoon and evening progressed smoothly with the poochkin typically making friends with everyone who came by. 

I'm curious as to how/where Assistant Boss contracted strep. He's single, a somewhat homebody, and a bit of a germaphobe.

We know Chaco is a carrier as he managed to infiltrate nearly his entire daycare with recurring cases of strep back in the day. In later years, he would greatly contribute to a young friend's tonsil removal.

Since Chaco was here recently, I'm wondering if he gave me a case of it, asymptomatic to me. I know it's happened before. Did I infect Assistant Boss?

Test Pooch and I won't say a word. 

YAY for allergies, mishap forensics, chicken

A little over a week ago, one of my tutees emailed me:

"My symptoms started Tuesday night and I tested positive for covid this morning (Thursday)..." 

Yeah, she and I met for a little over an hour that Wednesday. Honestly, I wasn't all that surprised at the email. She'd shown up for tutoring wearing a KN95 mask and admittedly feeling "like crap", but needing the help. During our session, she let out a few all too familiar sounding dry coughs as we sat closely - in hindsight - around a small table.

After receiving her email, I google searched to find the latest regarding covid reinfection. I found one article stating that people who are vaxxed and had covid should be fairly immune for about 10 months from their infection. Okay, I was getting behind that study!

In the days that followed, I had some paranoia inducing scratchy throat, sinus pressure... but YAY! It's allergies!

Welcome spring! Tomorrow is the official start, but I've enjoyed this week of saving the daylight. Can we just pick a time zone and stick to it already?

Spring break was this past week at the college and local school district, so work at the testing center and tutoring was relatively appreciably slow. Back to the grind tomorrow for the big push toward semester's end.

Speaking of big push, I was out running around on a recent morning, and came across this scene:

Curious, I've tried to piece together what happened. Something jumped the curb and crashed into the fence, but seems to me it wasn't a car but could've been. Looks like something tipped over and dragged into the fence. That dark smudge just beyond the fence break appears to be some sort of engine fluid, and there is a trail of it from the splotch indicating the driver turned and headed in the opposite direction.

Motorcycle? Scooter?  

In other imagery, who caught the google doodle for this past Wednesday? The 15th?

It was for Filipono adobo! That was my first thought upon seeing it, but then I thought, "Nah, there wouldn't be a google doodle just for chicken adobo"

But yes! There would be!

Apparently, it was to commemorate the anniversary of "adobo" being added to the Oxford English dictionary in 2006. Happy adobo anniversary!

It’s a symbol and expression of Filipino pride that varies from region to region, family to family, palate to palate.

Ask anyone with a Filipono mom or lola (grandma), "Who makes the best adobo?" The answer is, "My mom/ lola!"

And in MY case, it's actually true!