Three Cats; No Waiting.

Saturday morning. I’ve been at the computer for a few hours, catching up on my in bin. Diaries, email, bills, newsletters. How it accumulates when I turn my back on it for a while. Still didn’t really feel like dealing with it, but Hotmail had other ideas about it. They don’t play nice when you approach your mailbox limit, and I refuse to pay for my email through them. One paid email account is enough for anyone, though I seldom use it for fear of spam taking over.

One by one, as I’ve sat at the computer, the resident cats have situated themselves in my space. Kitten was first, and has spent as much time as possible on my lap. As if she knew I was writing about her, she’s just jumped back on now.

Clueless was the second to show up, and settled his ample self on my less than adequate lap. Kitten was soon to follow, and the two did what they could to share what had become woefully insufficient lap space. They’ve alternated off and on as to who had right of domain, with Kitten being the current champion of the lap.

At some point during all this, Warrior Princess arrived, and in a totally out of character move, solicited for attention herself. At one point I had two sparring cats on my lap while endeavoring to give another cat quality time.

All of which explains why this entry was not completed until this afternoon.
The appointment with Dr. Neck Thursday went as expected, but not unpleasantly. He agrees that it is too early to make any sort of aggressive/invasive moves on my neck, and has given me painkillers and muscle relaxants for when I need them, and exercises for when I can do them. Instead of turning me loose, he said he wants to follow up in three months. As much as I don’t need yet another doctor appointment complicating my existance, this makes me feel like he’s taking this seriously. I’m glad I got the referral for him.

While at the doctor’s I started yawning, and was absolutely unable to stop. I also started feeling really sleepy, and a minor headache over my left eye started. The yawning and sleepiness intensified on my hour drive home. By the time I got home (after another hell-ride like the two I had last spring) I was in the throes of another migraine. I left my medical records, MRI films, and briefcase in my locked car, managed to open the lock to the apartment, fed the cats, and went to bed, where I stayed (for the most part) for the next twelve hours. When I got up at six the next morning, most of the symptoms except for a nagging mild headache were gone. I had a hard time concentrating at work, but I managed to get through the day withoug goofing anything up too badly.

This was fortunate, because a few of my co-workers did manage to screw something up royally, and the repurcussions will be felt well into next week. Fortunately, even though I should have been on the “notify” list of this one, I wasn’t told of the events unfolding until after anything I could have done to assist was already addressed. There was a real danger of me having to go back to work last night, or come into work early this morning, but no phone call came to ruin this three day weekend. I’m grateful to whatever Powers prevented my inclusion in the current fiasco, and rather dread Tuesday, when the remnants of shit will fly off the fan. I hope not to be one of those in range of the fan, but we shall see. I do know that my ass is covered. I just don’t know if it will make a difference.

I got an unexpected phone call from a classmate on Wednesday. She was in town at a pharmaceutical, and wanted to know if I’d be free for dinner. I was only too pleased to hear from her, since she’s on of only a handful of my classmates I know who also hasnt’ gone into private practice. Over dinner we discussed my health (boring), her love life (fascinating) and getting all our non-practicing classmates together to talk about life, the universe and everything (has potential).

Today I decided I need to do a little more local exploring. Forgetting completely that it was Labor Day weekend, I set out for New Hope, an artsy, fartsy little town not too far from me. Ironically, I used to go there several times a year, until I moved so close.

I was disappointed to find that many of my favorite shops had vanished. In their place were Manhattenite-friendly shops where $500 pieces of glassware and $1,000 antique necklaces were on display. It was interesting to walk through the town, rather like going through a series of modern art museums. It was not what I had hoped for though. Parking cost me $15 (you can park for all day far cheaper than that in The Big City, if you know where to find the lots), and lunch cost me $25.

Granted, my lunch of garden greens salad with an absolutely wonderful house dressing unlike anything I’d ever had and a crabcake sandwhich (which had absolutely no binder that I could detect) was proabably worth every cent of it. Espcially so since the dining area overlooked the river, and my table had a view of the little bridge that led over to New Jersey. I sat on the patio, where three ducks marched nonchalantly around and around the brick paving acting as if they owned the place. Large shade umbrellas were strategically placed in planters alongside the tables, and bees and wasps of various descriptions kept themselves busy in the assorted flowers being grown there. I could hear, but never saw, a cardinal in the tree just behind me. Good food and great ambience: I guess that, if anything, made the trip worthwhile.

While walking the town I was surprised at the number of foreign tourists that were there. I heard French, German, what I’m pretty sure was Italian, and an Oriental dialect from assorted passers-by on the sidewalk. I honestly don’t know what drew them there, but it felt rather cosmopolitan strolling through all the different tongues.

So now I’m home, with two more days of weekend ahead. This will be my last three-day weekend of the year, and I intend to make the most of it. A local art theater is showing Laurence of Arabia on the big screen tomorrow night, and Dr. Nineteen Cats, The Socialist and I have tickets.