How Well Do You Know Anyone?
[Started Saturday, 10 June]
[resumed Sunday, 11 June]
Home: Home is mostly the house and upkeep of things. [Thursday, 15 June - I'm resuming writing this posting after almost a week... my viewpoint may have changed a little in that time as the events of this week have coloured my life... still, not too much in the big picture, as things have just been the usual little highs and lows of daily life.] Anyway, the house looks good, and I have a much better handle on the daily upkeep by cleaning up in the morning and cleaning up in the evening for ten minutes each time instead of allowing it to pile up and then spending half a day (or worse, a whole day!) immersed in a cleaning frenzy! That helps a lot. I'm off today and tomorrow and have plans to do things... get a couple of bins to store away winter clothes (since starting the current job, my wardrobe has expanded considerably... and the closet is overloaded. I was hoping to never have to swap out summer/winter clothes again, but that is not meant to be...); clean out the library downstairs; clean out the garage (it is not a mess, but the storage closets are filling up) and prep for the upcoming bathroom renovation. Our guy is coming tonight for us to pick out plumbing stuff (faucets, etc.) and will be asking us to go pick out tiles. We are renovating two bathrooms (they are both currently looking very circa 1968 and cramped), so that should be... really exciting (a nice way of saying total hell!).
Speaking of which, I need to go do that now.
My colleague at work spent a rather considerable amount of time asking me what was up, wrong, bothering me, etc. It was both very gratifying and somewhat annoying - it certainly started out well, but after several reassurances that nothing was unduly wrong in life (for me at this moment in time), it was more annoying and less "isn't-that-sweet-how-much-you-care-about-my-well-being".
And it is making me wonder what the concern really is... call it my suspicious, what-are-you-up-to HR nature, but that much asking makes the incident stand out in my mind and so I cogitate on it and go through several theories, some of which stick and others that end up on the scrap heap, thoroughly thought through and easily discarded. But the only true answer is in my colleague's head and I strongly suspect that even this individual could not verbalise what the real reasoning is behind it.
This has happened more than once, so as time clicks on and the instances pile up, it strikes me more and more rather than less. Overall, I think it is coming from a good place. In depth, I'm not sure if this falls under the category of "can't stand not knowing", job-related intelligence gathering, "what a concerned person I am" or something else that I may not have (or ever will) hit upon.
Now that I think about it, all of the people in this individual's particular line of work I have ever dealt with have had this trait. Maybe it is trained into them. This colleague reminds me terribly of a former colleague, Joe Autera. I loved working with Joe and he really knew his stuff. He told me tons of stories from his past experiences from his past work (a vocation/topic I am completely fascinated with) and other similarly-related things. He never told me anything he should not have (just to be clear). I found him to be funny, fun, serious about his job (he was also the top of the line in his department), and consistently suspicious of everyone. Despite that, we had an excellent relationship. He also taught me to be a lot less trusting and much more wary of people. But he always had my back, my best interests at heart and never mislead me once in the entire time we worked together.
Neither would this person.
Still, the same traits in Joe that annoyed me very closely match this person's annoying traits. It's actually amusing. And if I think about it, they would, if they were to ever meet, either love each other or hate each other, with no middle ground. Curious...
Well, back to my original musings... I was thinking about this in the shower, where I often do my best thinking. Unfortunately, somewhere between lathering up my hair and sitting in front of the computer, all those wonderful thoughts have drained out of my head, much as the shampoo travels in rivulets down the contours of my body to disappear down the drain... Very flowery, eh? At any rate, there is no digging them out. And if I don't sit down and work this out of my system right after that shower, as is my wont, it all disappears, never to make it into my blog. Very disappointing. So here I am, wrapped in a towel - actually, two... one around my body and one around my curling hair. It's 0830, and I should be heading to my parents' house to get the pool opened up... but this needs to be written and creativity does not wait. Not that this really falls under creativity but more just transferring my thoughts to hard drive. Someone's hard drive, anyway.
And it is making me wonder what the concern really is... call it my suspicious, what-are-you-up-to HR nature, but that much asking makes the incident stand out in my mind and so I cogitate on it and go through several theories, some of which stick and others that end up on the scrap heap, thoroughly thought through and easily discarded. But the only true answer is in my colleague's head and I strongly suspect that even this individual could not verbalise what the real reasoning is behind it.
This has happened more than once, so as time clicks on and the instances pile up, it strikes me more and more rather than less. Overall, I think it is coming from a good place. In depth, I'm not sure if this falls under the category of "can't stand not knowing", job-related intelligence gathering, "what a concerned person I am" or something else that I may not have (or ever will) hit upon.
Now that I think about it, all of the people in this individual's particular line of work I have ever dealt with have had this trait. Maybe it is trained into them. This colleague reminds me terribly of a former colleague, Joe Autera. I loved working with Joe and he really knew his stuff. He told me tons of stories from his past experiences from his past work (a vocation/topic I am completely fascinated with) and other similarly-related things. He never told me anything he should not have (just to be clear). I found him to be funny, fun, serious about his job (he was also the top of the line in his department), and consistently suspicious of everyone. Despite that, we had an excellent relationship. He also taught me to be a lot less trusting and much more wary of people. But he always had my back, my best interests at heart and never mislead me once in the entire time we worked together.
Neither would this person.
Still, the same traits in Joe that annoyed me very closely match this person's annoying traits. It's actually amusing. And if I think about it, they would, if they were to ever meet, either love each other or hate each other, with no middle ground. Curious...
Well, back to my original musings... I was thinking about this in the shower, where I often do my best thinking. Unfortunately, somewhere between lathering up my hair and sitting in front of the computer, all those wonderful thoughts have drained out of my head, much as the shampoo travels in rivulets down the contours of my body to disappear down the drain... Very flowery, eh? At any rate, there is no digging them out. And if I don't sit down and work this out of my system right after that shower, as is my wont, it all disappears, never to make it into my blog. Very disappointing. So here I am, wrapped in a towel - actually, two... one around my body and one around my curling hair. It's 0830, and I should be heading to my parents' house to get the pool opened up... but this needs to be written and creativity does not wait. Not that this really falls under creativity but more just transferring my thoughts to hard drive. Someone's hard drive, anyway.
[resumed Sunday, 11 June]
So this begs the question: is there something wrong? Is he seeing something in (or on) me that I don't see? It is possible. But it is unlikely. I'm generally eminently aware of my feelings on any topic. I'm a terribly easy read on the surface and I prefer it that way. I hate guessing what someone is feeling at any given time, so I prefer to allow people the luxury of not having to wonder how I feel about... whatever. So there should be nothing unduly wrong if I am answering that way.
I like to qualify things as "unduly" wrong as opposed to just "a little bit" or generally wrong. Life is never perfect and would be rather disappointing if it was all just fine and right and then when would you really give some deep meaningful thought to anything? That is not worth it. All the negatives that crop in day-to-day living, even more so than the really unusual big things, are what make us stronger, better people.
So I should examine, more closely, that which is not right in life and maybe, just maybe, my colleague is reading something I'm wholly unaware of communicating. And maybe not. I like to keep an open mind to various possibilities. He's probably just misreading the normal sexual tension I'm feeling around him that I try not to communicate but struggle with anyway. (I told him I don't have a crush on him anymore but these things don't just *poof* go away...)
And here I am, a day later, still ready to really pick apart life and see if there is anything in there worth fretting over, or that I am, subconsciously, fretting over... It's 12:55 on Sunday afternoon. I'm still pretty happy although last night was eventful enough that I undoubedtly appear thoughtful and even pensive to other people right now. It was that kind of night.
Before that, though, I was feeling quite delighted. In general, I suppose the biggest areas in my life are (not in any particular order):
Health
Finances
Work
Family
Friends
Squad
Home
Taking each area separately, we have a lot of things under those topics:
Health: Well, my health is never great or perfect. An accident in 2001 left me with some ongoing back pain which does diminish slowly with time and yoga and generally being smarter about posture and other things. I also have two bad knees from a childhood trauma (I fell off of a balance beam in gym and tore the cartilage in both knees - one of which had arthroscopic surgery in 1996 and is quite improved). Those are really not major things, and I live with them, and easily at that. The back pain usually occurs after doing especially hard work (opening the pool up yesterday did NOT do wonders for my lumbar area!), the knee issues are intermittent and much less frequent than it once was, prior to the surgery, although once in a while I still have issues with the left knee. But this is life, and not anything that causes me undue worry.
I do (very likely) have muscular dystrophy and that sometimes really bothers me. (My mother was formally diagnosed with it and so was one of her two sisters. I show all the same hallmark signs but have not had the time and courage to confirm it. Yes, even I experience denial - I just admit to it!) Most of the time, it is not there at the top of my mind. But on calls it comes up time and again and there are some ongoing tasks that become harder and harder over time. The yoga is helpful here, too. I actually have regained some of my old flexibility and stamina back, but lifting is still a challenge. I do try more, though. Again, this is something that I have been living with for some time, so I don't much worry over it. I have the more prosaic attitude that if it doesn't kill me, I'm OK with that!
What else? Well, there is the over-bearing sex drive, but I mostly am amused by it. It is not as bad to live with as it used to be with Luis having lost all the weight and having a greatly increased sexual appetite. That is certainly a wonderful improvement.
Ah, but there is the "ringing in the ears", a newer development. This started a while ago, but I can't say when... it transitioned from a once-in-a-while thing to a much more annoying and obvious on again, off again sort of thing. I have it for a day or two then I don't but when I have it, it is very annoying and clearly audible and I cannot drown it out or tune it out. It's always the entire day that I have it and then I just have to see what the next morning brings. It is worrying. I have a 1500 appointment tomorrow with the ear-nose-throat doc and hopefully he will have a diagnosis and cure/palliative/fix for it! That will take an enormous weight off of me.
I can live with an annoying high-pitched whine in my ears - but what if this is a precursor to something considerably scarier or more sinister such as hearing loss? I will not be able to continue on as an EMT without my sense of hearing. And I have hearing that seems to far exceed that of most people's hearing ability. I don't want to lose that! I have corrective lenses, diminished taste and smell due to consistent mucus blockage from all-year-round allergies, and having really great hearing is wonderful!
So I am worried a lot about that. But I am taking active steps to rectify the issue.
Finances: Always an area of great discontent and fuss, but not one that really upsets me (maybe if it did upset me more it would not be as bad as it tends to be). But this is one of those areas that is always a trouble spot and therefore not really a trouble spot (if you understand what I mean)... it is what it is. If I spent much time - if any - worrying about money, I'd be a quivering ball of completely screwed up person slobbering in a corner and playing with my lower lip. Am I a financial solid, stable person? No. And it doesn't seem likely that I will wake up one day and BE a solid, stable person when it comes to my fecundiary status. So I don't think that my esteemed colleague is picking up on that. Right now, I'm still living paycheck to paycheck, no easy feat, and paying the bills, AND paying my debt... again, no easy feat. But it is stable at the moment. This would be an "up" time in my financial world.
Work: I happen to be at a very high, wonderful pinnacle in my professional life. I love my job. I love my work. I can even say I minimally dislike payroll instead of I heavily despise it with every fiber of my being! Not bad... about two or three months ago I mentioned someday finding a part-time person to payroll, to which my GM replied, "I am ignoring you right now." He was being funny but the message was clear: this is not and won't be for a long time (if ever) a consideration. He's always up front with me and I am fully appreciative of that. I never worry what page I'm on with that man!
My coworkers are wonderful - most of them, clearly not all - who could get that lucky?! But as a whole I really love most of the people, from the highest Management to the lowest paid part-time employee. These are all kinds of people - some open, some very private, some warm, some distant, all shapes, sizes, colours, origins, religions, etc. What is not to love there? Sure, some of them give me no end of headaches and some are no trouble at all and then most fall into the middle. But they listen to me and treat me as though I have some value. Gotta love that. So this facet of my life is exceptionally happy. There are one or two dark clouds over there but they are small and insignificant to my feelings about the job as a whole.
Family: Well, no one can push your buttons like a family member can. As with any long-term relationship, we have our issues and trouble spots. I hate the way Luis won't take vacations; he hates the way I go to bed so early - which I do. I usually crash between 2030 and 2100. But in an overall sense we have a great relationship and I certainly would not imagine life any other way. I love my Luis, good, bad and/or ugly!
My parents I have a very open loving relationship with. Yes, my pill-swilling, surgery-happy mother gets on my nerves a bit but she can't help it. I wish she would relax but instead she's more and more bossy and controlling (because she can be - partially my father's fault for letting her walk all over him with cleats on...). She has become less and less tolerant of others who don't share her exact opinions on things. That is annoying but when she is just chatting about this or that, it's all good. She's incredibly intelligent (just not where pharmaceuticals are concerned) and she is a wonderful parent. She drives me crazy, but I am sure that she would say that it's a "perk".
My pusillanimous, sweet father is my best friend. We usually see each other once a week to run errands, do all the boring things that we never can get done during the week. We have a lot of fun, and we go out for a nice breakfast, just the two of us, and chat and laugh over our coffee and tea. I helped him get the pool open, no easy task but a fun with the two of us cutting up and joking the whole way through.
The rest of my family is fine, I see them typically once a year for the holidays. That's really fine with me. I'm not a big one to be hung up on family traditions like Thanksgiving and all that other horse shit. I still remember going to Seders when I was a kid! No, thanks. It's one thing to go to a friend's house for that - it's your friends and it is your option to say no. My friends also don't have any expectations that I will become Jewish or whatever other religion we may be participating in that time. I may not care too much about this sort of thing, but I certainly understand why people do it. But I do not go to family events ever out of a sense of obligation! That is the worst reason in the world to go to anything.
I like to qualify things as "unduly" wrong as opposed to just "a little bit" or generally wrong. Life is never perfect and would be rather disappointing if it was all just fine and right and then when would you really give some deep meaningful thought to anything? That is not worth it. All the negatives that crop in day-to-day living, even more so than the really unusual big things, are what make us stronger, better people.
So I should examine, more closely, that which is not right in life and maybe, just maybe, my colleague is reading something I'm wholly unaware of communicating. And maybe not. I like to keep an open mind to various possibilities. He's probably just misreading the normal sexual tension I'm feeling around him that I try not to communicate but struggle with anyway. (I told him I don't have a crush on him anymore but these things don't just *poof* go away...)
And here I am, a day later, still ready to really pick apart life and see if there is anything in there worth fretting over, or that I am, subconsciously, fretting over... It's 12:55 on Sunday afternoon. I'm still pretty happy although last night was eventful enough that I undoubedtly appear thoughtful and even pensive to other people right now. It was that kind of night.
Before that, though, I was feeling quite delighted. In general, I suppose the biggest areas in my life are (not in any particular order):
Health
Finances
Work
Family
Friends
Squad
Home
Taking each area separately, we have a lot of things under those topics:
Health: Well, my health is never great or perfect. An accident in 2001 left me with some ongoing back pain which does diminish slowly with time and yoga and generally being smarter about posture and other things. I also have two bad knees from a childhood trauma (I fell off of a balance beam in gym and tore the cartilage in both knees - one of which had arthroscopic surgery in 1996 and is quite improved). Those are really not major things, and I live with them, and easily at that. The back pain usually occurs after doing especially hard work (opening the pool up yesterday did NOT do wonders for my lumbar area!), the knee issues are intermittent and much less frequent than it once was, prior to the surgery, although once in a while I still have issues with the left knee. But this is life, and not anything that causes me undue worry.
I do (very likely) have muscular dystrophy and that sometimes really bothers me. (My mother was formally diagnosed with it and so was one of her two sisters. I show all the same hallmark signs but have not had the time and courage to confirm it. Yes, even I experience denial - I just admit to it!) Most of the time, it is not there at the top of my mind. But on calls it comes up time and again and there are some ongoing tasks that become harder and harder over time. The yoga is helpful here, too. I actually have regained some of my old flexibility and stamina back, but lifting is still a challenge. I do try more, though. Again, this is something that I have been living with for some time, so I don't much worry over it. I have the more prosaic attitude that if it doesn't kill me, I'm OK with that!
What else? Well, there is the over-bearing sex drive, but I mostly am amused by it. It is not as bad to live with as it used to be with Luis having lost all the weight and having a greatly increased sexual appetite. That is certainly a wonderful improvement.
Ah, but there is the "ringing in the ears", a newer development. This started a while ago, but I can't say when... it transitioned from a once-in-a-while thing to a much more annoying and obvious on again, off again sort of thing. I have it for a day or two then I don't but when I have it, it is very annoying and clearly audible and I cannot drown it out or tune it out. It's always the entire day that I have it and then I just have to see what the next morning brings. It is worrying. I have a 1500 appointment tomorrow with the ear-nose-throat doc and hopefully he will have a diagnosis and cure/palliative/fix for it! That will take an enormous weight off of me.
I can live with an annoying high-pitched whine in my ears - but what if this is a precursor to something considerably scarier or more sinister such as hearing loss? I will not be able to continue on as an EMT without my sense of hearing. And I have hearing that seems to far exceed that of most people's hearing ability. I don't want to lose that! I have corrective lenses, diminished taste and smell due to consistent mucus blockage from all-year-round allergies, and having really great hearing is wonderful!
So I am worried a lot about that. But I am taking active steps to rectify the issue.
Finances: Always an area of great discontent and fuss, but not one that really upsets me (maybe if it did upset me more it would not be as bad as it tends to be). But this is one of those areas that is always a trouble spot and therefore not really a trouble spot (if you understand what I mean)... it is what it is. If I spent much time - if any - worrying about money, I'd be a quivering ball of completely screwed up person slobbering in a corner and playing with my lower lip. Am I a financial solid, stable person? No. And it doesn't seem likely that I will wake up one day and BE a solid, stable person when it comes to my fecundiary status. So I don't think that my esteemed colleague is picking up on that. Right now, I'm still living paycheck to paycheck, no easy feat, and paying the bills, AND paying my debt... again, no easy feat. But it is stable at the moment. This would be an "up" time in my financial world.
Work: I happen to be at a very high, wonderful pinnacle in my professional life. I love my job. I love my work. I can even say I minimally dislike payroll instead of I heavily despise it with every fiber of my being! Not bad... about two or three months ago I mentioned someday finding a part-time person to payroll, to which my GM replied, "I am ignoring you right now." He was being funny but the message was clear: this is not and won't be for a long time (if ever) a consideration. He's always up front with me and I am fully appreciative of that. I never worry what page I'm on with that man!
My coworkers are wonderful - most of them, clearly not all - who could get that lucky?! But as a whole I really love most of the people, from the highest Management to the lowest paid part-time employee. These are all kinds of people - some open, some very private, some warm, some distant, all shapes, sizes, colours, origins, religions, etc. What is not to love there? Sure, some of them give me no end of headaches and some are no trouble at all and then most fall into the middle. But they listen to me and treat me as though I have some value. Gotta love that. So this facet of my life is exceptionally happy. There are one or two dark clouds over there but they are small and insignificant to my feelings about the job as a whole.
Family: Well, no one can push your buttons like a family member can. As with any long-term relationship, we have our issues and trouble spots. I hate the way Luis won't take vacations; he hates the way I go to bed so early - which I do. I usually crash between 2030 and 2100. But in an overall sense we have a great relationship and I certainly would not imagine life any other way. I love my Luis, good, bad and/or ugly!
My parents I have a very open loving relationship with. Yes, my pill-swilling, surgery-happy mother gets on my nerves a bit but she can't help it. I wish she would relax but instead she's more and more bossy and controlling (because she can be - partially my father's fault for letting her walk all over him with cleats on...). She has become less and less tolerant of others who don't share her exact opinions on things. That is annoying but when she is just chatting about this or that, it's all good. She's incredibly intelligent (just not where pharmaceuticals are concerned) and she is a wonderful parent. She drives me crazy, but I am sure that she would say that it's a "perk".
My pusillanimous, sweet father is my best friend. We usually see each other once a week to run errands, do all the boring things that we never can get done during the week. We have a lot of fun, and we go out for a nice breakfast, just the two of us, and chat and laugh over our coffee and tea. I helped him get the pool open, no easy task but a fun with the two of us cutting up and joking the whole way through.
The rest of my family is fine, I see them typically once a year for the holidays. That's really fine with me. I'm not a big one to be hung up on family traditions like Thanksgiving and all that other horse shit. I still remember going to Seders when I was a kid! No, thanks. It's one thing to go to a friend's house for that - it's your friends and it is your option to say no. My friends also don't have any expectations that I will become Jewish or whatever other religion we may be participating in that time. I may not care too much about this sort of thing, but I certainly understand why people do it. But I do not go to family events ever out of a sense of obligation! That is the worst reason in the world to go to anything.
Thankfully no one is slated to get married, have kids, throw any really large-scale events of any kind. I mean, a birthday party is one thing. A wedding is a drag. I try to discourage people from inviting me to showers of any kind (have you ever noticed that this special form of torture is reserved for women? Men don't engage in this sort of nonsense. Men are much more practical about such things and bail out! Or have a bachelor party - much better!) I don't look upon this as fun... and women get so weird about this sort of thing! Cooing, oohing and ahhhing over the dumbest things. I went to my friend Vicki's wedding and baby showers and we were both rolling our eyes and making fun of the others who were just so over the top about this. We both view these events the exact same way.
Friends: My friends are wonderful and mean the world to me, even when I'm in the full throws of working and busy and fussy and not readily available for things. I'm very happy with all of my friends!
Squad: This is a funny sort of grey area. Luis is (I think) proud of my EMT work, but he doesn't really show it and mostly views it as something that is a pain in the butt. For him it is the very minorest of inconviences. The pager does wake him up sometimes but he falls right back to sleep whereas I have to get my butt out of bed. We hear the loud rig going by the house - the engine, the lights, the sirens and as a special, if I'm not riding on my normal night, Bob will lean on that air horn to remind me that I am dissing my crew! Mostly this doesn't add any undue strain, but it is funny.
Friends: My friends are wonderful and mean the world to me, even when I'm in the full throws of working and busy and fussy and not readily available for things. I'm very happy with all of my friends!
Squad: This is a funny sort of grey area. Luis is (I think) proud of my EMT work, but he doesn't really show it and mostly views it as something that is a pain in the butt. For him it is the very minorest of inconviences. The pager does wake him up sometimes but he falls right back to sleep whereas I have to get my butt out of bed. We hear the loud rig going by the house - the engine, the lights, the sirens and as a special, if I'm not riding on my normal night, Bob will lean on that air horn to remind me that I am dissing my crew! Mostly this doesn't add any undue strain, but it is funny.
For myself, I love this part of my life! I love riding, I love driving the rig, I love working with the patients, I love the people I ride with (a large number of them, anyway), and I find that the work is immensely satisfying and interesting and gives me the excitement I like to have. I have seen people die and some that cut off things and some that drank dopey things like Isopropyl alcohol and it never ceases to amaze me the things that people do! Mostly, people are fine and survive and really aren't that emergent but they feel that they are. So it's mostly quite OK!
Home: Home is mostly the house and upkeep of things. [Thursday, 15 June - I'm resuming writing this posting after almost a week... my viewpoint may have changed a little in that time as the events of this week have coloured my life... still, not too much in the big picture, as things have just been the usual little highs and lows of daily life.] Anyway, the house looks good, and I have a much better handle on the daily upkeep by cleaning up in the morning and cleaning up in the evening for ten minutes each time instead of allowing it to pile up and then spending half a day (or worse, a whole day!) immersed in a cleaning frenzy! That helps a lot. I'm off today and tomorrow and have plans to do things... get a couple of bins to store away winter clothes (since starting the current job, my wardrobe has expanded considerably... and the closet is overloaded. I was hoping to never have to swap out summer/winter clothes again, but that is not meant to be...); clean out the library downstairs; clean out the garage (it is not a mess, but the storage closets are filling up) and prep for the upcoming bathroom renovation. Our guy is coming tonight for us to pick out plumbing stuff (faucets, etc.) and will be asking us to go pick out tiles. We are renovating two bathrooms (they are both currently looking very circa 1968 and cramped), so that should be... really exciting (a nice way of saying total hell!).
Luis has also turned a bit "green" but don't kid yourself, it isn't due to any great liking of being environmentally conscious. He is going forward with putting solar panels on the roof and having the roof replaced. I'm pushing for a different colour roof entirely. The current one is a brownish red colour and just hideous. My parents got a green roof. Trust me, when my mother told me that I thought it sounded truly awful. It turned out beautifully! Who would have thought? I don't know if it will be beautiful on our house, but I suspect almost anything would be an improvement over the current colour!
And there is the In-Sink-Erator that was replaced on Tuesday. That was $600 (a drop in the bucket for Luis) but well worth it. I'm used to having it and so is he. But as usual we heard those ugly little words that every contractor or repair person has uttered since we bought the house: "Well, they had a top-of-the-line {whatever}, but whoever installed it did a terrible job!" Yes, that is the secret we uncovered in our ownership of this house. The Tischlers would buy the best possible product and then cheap out and gerry-rig everything to install it themselves. The electric, all of the appliances, various piping and plumbing... all installed poorly. Not so much that the items fail but enough that everyone across the board comments on the poor workmanship in it.
So that is life in a nutshell: good and bad. Oh, and an update: my ears aren't ringing today and weren't yesterday but the real test is tomorrow. I went to the ENT on Monday afternoon and he prescribed Allegra and NasaCourt - one allergy pill and one nasal spray (I hate nasal sprays but it beats the alternative - surgery - and I am scheduled for a hearing test at Morristown soon. Next week, on Wednesday. We'll see how this works. I should have a hearing test anyway. I hope the medication works, though, as that will be better than the other option... my ear bones in the middle ear aren't moving to transmit sound properly and that would need to be fixed surgically instead of through modern medicine. I would prefer not to have surgery... I will if it is needed, however.
I seem to be suddenly catching up on all that is medical in my life... I have a multitude of appointments over the next month. It's time for the annual PAP smear, there is the ear thing, there is a trip to the dermatologist and I need to meet my new doctor (my new medical plan kicks in on 1 July and it is an evil and heinous HMO, and my beloved doctor is not in the plan, so I am forced to obtain a new one. I had my doctor refer me to one, though. But HMO means referrals again, so to go to the dermatologist, I need to go to my new doctor. I have seen his name, though - he is the primary doctor for several of my EMS patients).
I'm going to need to see a neurologist at some point to confirm whether or not I really have muscular dystrophy. I have to admit that the yoga is doing wonders for that. I am stronger, more fit and have a bit more muscle tone than I did before I started.
Speaking of which, I need to go do that now.
I guess I haven't fully closed this out. I don't know what it is that my coworker is picking up. I will chalk it up to just being a good caring person... that sounds good and is the least suspicious of all the possible answers. And life goes on!
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