Happy New Year

Happy 2006, everyone! 2005 was mildly successful; that is to say, I’m still alive. Not all of my goals for 2005 were achieved. Approaching 30 in two months, I’m starting to feel old. I’d like to get certain aspects of my life underway, but it’s hard not to feel stuck once in a while.

New Year’s Eve was nice. Amy and I spent most of the time at Darren‘s house, enjoying the company of some good people. The entire weekend was a great start to a new year, which is hopefully a good sign of things to come.

Shiva

Earlier tonight, I participated in my first shiva call, at least the first one I remember. It’s a much, much more “pleasant” experience than a wake. There are no strangely-painted motionless bodies in a casket to look at, for one thing.

My father’s girlfriend’s mother passed away on Saturday. The funeral was on Sunday, and tonight was the shiva call. It’s such an expedient process, no need to drag it out over a week. She was 89 years old and deep in dementia. From what I know of her, she had a full life. Some of her time growing up and living in Europe was spent on the run from Hitler and Stalin.

When I first met her, we could have conversations. Subsequent times in the past several years, she would ramble aimlessly, switching incoherently from English to Polish to Russian to Yiddish, believing that she was somewhere else and that the people she was talking with were other people.

How’d I Do?

In early January, I posted my plan of action for 2005. How did I do?

Part I: I didn’t really progress anywhere here. 2006 for sure.

Part II: I’ve made progress on A and B. I’m leaning away from law school at this point. I’m not convinced it’s the right thing for me, and it’s a huge investment for not knowing. I’ve made progress on C as well, though I usually make it through two interviews only to be not selected in the final hour of decision or to determine myself that it’s not worth it.

Part III: Excellent progress here.

My resolutions for 2006 have been posted on my other website, although they’re somewhat money related, as the topic of my other blog is personal finance.

I Pay My Rent On Time…

… and this is what I get.

I came home last night and I was welcomed home by Rupert, only I wasn’t. Normally I am, but I couldn’t find him. He didn’t answer when I called.

Then I spotted something weird: the doors to my bathroom closet, which are normally where they should be, were in the dining room, leaning up against some crates filled with books. The crates were in the right spot, but I wasn’t sure how the doors moved.

I thought that there was some kind of strange conspiracy involving the cat and the doors, as Rupert continued not responding to my calls. Normally he runs to me the second I start talking, even if I’m not calling him. Perhaps who ever was in my apartment let him out…

Nope, he was sleeping behind the television. This still didn’t solve the question of the closet doors, so I called the management office. After announcing my name and apartment number, the woman knew exactly what happened. Maintenance received a call about a broken water heater from my apartment number… but it wasn’t for my apartment. It was for an apartment in a different complex with the same number. Maintenance entered my apartment because of incorrect information. They realized this when, after inspecting my water heater, they determined it was working perfectly. So they left.

There are still the unanswered questions: Why didn’t they put the doors back on when they were done? Why didn’t someone leave me a note or call me to tell me what happened so I didn’t have to be wondering what the hell was going on when I got home? What did they do to scare Rupert into almost-permanent hiding?

The woman from the apartment management company apologized profusely. She tried to get maintenance to visit last night to put the doors back on, but apparently they were otherwise occupied with dealing with some sort of emergency, which I wouldn’t dout that they caused in the first place.

Surgery

Thanks to everyone who called or emailed to inquire about the surgery. Everything went well with the procedure from what I could tell, and apparently I was very talkative as I was coming out of sedation. At the time, I was under the impression that I had been awake for the whole thing, but that would be impossible. This is what did happen, to the best of my memory:

The anaesthesiologist or dentist’s helper (I’m not sure who was who) said they’d start me off with oxygen and laughing gas, so she placed a mask over my nose. I had been administered nitrous oxide before so I expected to begin slipping into sleep. However, I was staying blissfully aware of my surroundings. When she asked how I was feeling, I said I was fine, but still aware.

They inserted an IV into my arm and began feeing me what I believe was sugar-water. This, also, was doing nothing to calm me — I’m nervous around surgical equipment. The food was somewhat refreshing since I had been instructed not to eat or drink anything for eight hours prior to the appointed time for the surgery. At this time, I was informed that I’d be receiving the sedative intravenously.

The dentist came in and told me he was going to begin the drugs. Everything else is hazy, but I must have been somewhat aware of at least part of the operation, which is why I later told Amy that I had been awake for the whole thing.

The next thing I remember without a doubt is being in a different room — a hallway — on a bench, in the process of sitting up from a prone position, next to Amy. The dentist came by and shook my hand. Someone else was there to give me instructions for taking the various drugs (penicillin and hydrocodone bitartrate). Luckilly, Amy was more conscious than I at the time and was able to remember the instructions. I barely remember taking out my credit card to pay for the procedure. (Let’s hope it doesn’t take my insurance too long to reimburse me.)

Over the weekend, I have been gradually reintroducing “chewing” to my daily activities. I’m not fully there yet, but at least I haven’t had any kind of problems with the surgery yet — knock on wood. There’s still a slight possibility that something will go wrong with the stitching or I’ll get the dreaded dry socket. It does seem like everything is progressing normally, and at this point, there’s very little pain — just a mild uncomfortability that can be controlled with the drugs.

More about this “well-orchestrated” weekend later…

Powerless

My electricity went out (as did at minimum the power for my neighboring apartments, street lamps, and possibly traffic lights as I heard police cars from that general direction) last night at around 10:30pm. I decided I might as well go to sleep. I was jolted from bed about an hour later when a couple of lights I left on regained power — I left them switched on so I’d know when power returned.

I got up, checked my email one last time, and went back to sleep. Speaking of sleep, my new bed is the greatest thing I’ve ever known. Since buying the new bed, I’ve been sleeping wonderfully. It is a little wide when I’m in it alone, though.

Confluence

Funny, I thought I posted this here all ready.

I have an appointment this Friday to have my wisdom teeth extracted. People have been kindly sharing their scary pain stories, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to the event. At least I’ll be taken care of well with Jell-O, soup and other foods not requiring mastication. Somehow, I thought scheduling the surgery the day before I’m traveling to Baltimore would be a good idea. Actually, I didn’t have many options open — it had to be a day when someone was free to drive me. Yes, they’re going to make sure I’m completely drugged through the whole thing.

Pumpkintastic

Even though it was a little cold and windy, the weather yesterday was much better than how it’s been lately. Amy and I joined Jen, Matt, Sarah and Tanya for a variety of cider-related foods and pumpkin activities. We visited Hacklebarney Farms and ended up at Jen’s place for the ritual carving of faces into the vegetables. You can see a photo of some of the results.

Jen’s apartment is great, and I’m a bit jealous. My apartment, on the other hand… well the maintenance guys working on the plumbing next door over the weekend and now my bathroom sink is leaking. The water destroyed a bunch of stuff kept in the cabinets underneath.

Two Important Things

Two important things resulted this past weekend:

1. I have a new, doublepluscomfortable bed. I should be in it right now, but it’s currently empty so my motivation is a little lower than what I would prefer.
2. I have an appointment in November for extraction of my third molars (wisdom teeth). I can’t wait to be unable to remember the surgical event due to copious opiates or whatever drugs they’ll put in my body to ensure a smooth and painless non-experience.

Changes

Things change over time. People change, too. Tastes change. When I was little, I hated eggs. As I got older I discovered I liked them, especially the scrambled variety. My tastes in seasons changed. I like the fall more now than even five years ago, but I will never enjoy the winter. At least, that’s my feeling towards that awful, cold season now. I expect I might change my mind–slightly–some day.

People do change. Relationships change. Over time it just happens that you find fewer things in common with some and more shared interests with others. Life is dynamic, fluid; nothing is constant. People are hurt and people are saved. Curses can become blessings given enough time.

Sometimes you have to grab something and hold on and sometimes even pushing with all your strength can’t budge the spinny thing in the playground. You know the structure I’m talking about–it’s circular and has bars for holding and some kids vomit after being on it for a long time.

Speaking of changes, I was inspired to make another redesign of the layout. I think I’ve finally decided the direction I want to take with this site, as well.