I saw a friend from high school today. We were very, very close back in the day. She's known my hubby since elementary school, too.

I still see her from time to time. In fact, the last time I saw her was in March, a week after I (re)started Weight Watchers. T was home sleeping today when I saw her.

The first thing she said was, "Where is your other half?". I assumed she meant T. I said he was home sleeping. She laughed at me & said she meant the other half of ME...referring to the 64 pounds I've lost since March. Yay! :)

Sesame Street is officially 40 years old today!  I grew up on Sesame Street, like a lot of kids did.  I just did it before a lot of my friends from school did.  I'm cool with that.  I've seen a lot of people sharing their favorite moments, and I dunno if it's a hormonal thing or if it's because I finally scheduled my surgery, but the first thing to come to my mind was the show in 1982 that dealt with the death of Mr. Hooper.

Saddest.  Scene.  EVER.  It is truly amazing, though.  That's one of the awesome things about Sesame Street.  They didn't write him out of the show or gloss over it - they laid it out on the table.  Shit happens, folks.  It's one of the only times they had the entire adult cast in one scene, too.  It was shot in one take - the first take - because they were all very upset.  It was devastating.  It's STILL devastating.  I have to say...my Mom died in 2001.  Cam was too young to understand, so I got off pretty easy, figuratively speaking.  Our dog died 2 years ago...that was awful.  I was upset, but the first thing I thought of was, "ohmygod, what do I tell Cam?!"  He couldn't sleep by himself for 3 nights, and still cried every night for a week after that. Brutus died this past year...it was awful, too.  He did better with that, I think because he knew what to expect.  He gets misty-eyed sometimes at night still.  That shit is hard.  Props to Sesame Street, and to every one of those actors!  Watch the, "Oh crap...what do we do?" pass from one to the other.  I read somewhere this episode was nominated for an Emmy.  I hope they got it!  Video below the cut.

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I'm done.  Seriously.

( Read on if you dare... )

I was reading Facebook and saw a previous student of mine was going to stay up late to register for classes next term.  I was like, "Shit! I only have one semester left, I better find out when I register so I don't miss out on any classes!"  I hopped onto Argus and had already logged in and clicked on "My Tab" when I remembered...the only class for which I need to register is student teaching.   That's all.  I've registered for graduation and such, so it's not like I didn't KNOW this was coming.  I even had to look up the date for the actual graduation ceremony (May 1st, for anyone that is interested) so I realize that it's like 6 months away.  But I only have to register for ONE MORE CLASS! 


My back is still fucked up.  It's been much worse, actually, the past few days, leading me to assume that the cold weather is no longer my friend.  :(  I had my MRI Friday morning, and it went just fine.  I'm not claustrophobic, so it was no big deal, really.  I actually dozed off during the last scan.  It was different.  I think it was almost more of a hassle replacing all my piercings than the actual procedure.  Thank GOD for my roommate - my husband was on duty and Mr. B helped swap out my metal piercings for acrylic.  

I'm waiting to hear from my doc's office about the results.  His nurse is supposed to call today.  I'm back to taking 2 Lortab a day since the temps dropped.  I know it's not a whole lot, but I just don't like the fuzzy daze I'm in...but if it's a fuzzy daze or hobbling pain, I'll go with fuzzy.  

Our annual Halloween party is this weekend.  Renaissance theme...should be interesting.  We haven't had the cops show up in a few years...I dunno if that means we're all getting old and winding down, or if the neighbors really WERE drug dealers and had no interest in calling the cops.  Heh.  

Cam's decided he'll dress up this year after all, and go trick-or-treating with us.  He's also going to have a kids-only Halloween party with some of his oldest friends.  That translates to the kids of OUR friends - they've been around each other since they were in diapers and have become pretty close friends.  Dawn is going to spend the night with her 2 boys (Yay!!) and Orin will sleep over...we'll still have more adults than kids in the house, so things should go well.  

I couldn't go into work this morning because my boss changed the locks over the weekend and I didn't get a new key yet.  I'm going in this afternoon before my evening class (BLAH) to get my paperwork and such done for the day.  Speaking of this class, I logged in to grudgingly do whatever our assignment was before class tonight only to find that there WAS no assignment!  That put me in a very jolly mood.  :)

That's about all I have...it's not much, but I got it down.  Gonna wait for T to wake up so I can run through Brahms some more - I'm rehearsing with Blake tomorrow after band for my recital.  Oh, the excitement!

Well, it started with back pain, actually.  But that's been par for the course lately.  I knew the day was going south in a hurry when I got out to the car and saw that a bird with a highly abnormal case of diarrhea had spent some quality time in the tree above my car this morning.  I'm talking a shmear running vertically all the way from the top of my window to the base.  This provided MUCH entertainment for the ride to the bus stop, for both Mac and I.  Turns out I'm really 10 on the inside. 

After I dropped him off at the bus I hit up a nearby gas station to clean my window.  I pulled the cleaner out of the container and the whole damn bucket thing of water/glass cleaner FELL OFF THE POLE.  There was a ridiculous splash, much of which ended up soaking into my jeans.  ...sigh...  I cleaned the window, and looked for the large, disgusting chunk that was sliding across my window on the drive to the bus stop...it was nowhere to be seen.  Yay!  All clean.  I hobble out of the car once I get to work, close the door, and as I'm getting ready to lock the door I find the large, disgusting chunk of bird poo.  It's precariously balanced across the keyhole of my door.  I ended up leaving it unlocked.  

So there you go.  That was how my day started.  This is all before 7AM, mind you.  

Mac wants to have a kids-only Halloween party.  We've been hosting our annual adults-only party since '02, which means he has to go sleep over at Grandma's house.  Which is NOT punishment, believe me. Anyway, we're left to plan for a party with a bunch of tweens...boys and girls.  Anyone have any game suggestions?  Movies that aren't TOO scary?  I mean, they're older kids, but they're still KIDS.  Ugh.  This is turning out to be harder than I expected!  Help!! 

I was reading the local news this morning and there were a bunch of articles about the 5 year anniversary of Ivan.  I perused a few, then moved on.  Been there, done that...ya know?  Then I flip over to Google News, and find this: 30 Year Anniversary of Hurricane Frederic.  Now THAT, my friends, was news to me.  Not because I didn't know about it, but that I *remember* it.  Not particularly VIVID memories, mind you, as I was only a wee little girl.  I remember sleeping on mattresses in the hall with Mom and Dad, and that was cool, except that I could tell Dad was scared....and I'd never seen Dad scared before.  I remember that our street flooded...which in and of itself was not unusual, as it flooded after a sprinkle. This time it was about a foot deep...that was plenty unusual.  I've seen pics of Mom and Dad holding mine and Val's hands in the water to keep us from floating off down the street.  Anyway, the story is not so much the hurricane, but the article's title.  Ooooold.

So I ordered a new case for my external hard drive.  I have 7 seasons of MST3K taking up space on the file server at home. I figure if I get my external hard drive working again I can move those shows over and fill up that empty space with something else!  I checked the tracking number today, and it just left Secaucus, NJ.  That name always makes me want to laugh.  Random, eh?

Mac is going to take orchestra at school this year. He's in 5th grade.  Please offer up a prayer to your deity of choice that I survive this learning experience with my sanity intact.  I was in String Methods.  I know what music majors sound like trying to learn violin...I'm not looking forward to 5th graders.  I'm behind him 100% though...hell or high water.  Hopefully it won't come to that...

My sister tossed out the idea of a road trip to visit our family up in PA over the summer, and I have fixated on that idea like a drowning man would ogle a life boat.  Me, Val, and our 3 kids on a 2-day road trip to get there.  I figure that week-long trips with 175 angsty, hormone-ridden teenagers have prepared me for this sort of situation.  Thanks, teaching experience!  I've been working out logistics that are WAAAY too far into the future to be considering...rental car, hotels on the way up and back, will we stay with family or in a hotel, etc. 

Back still hurts, but that's nothing new.  Trying not to obsess.  Or annoy.  Heh.

So I left a message with my doc's nurse this morning. She called back to tell me what would be involved with my "6 weeks of conservative treatment". Turns out it's *nothing*...keep taking Aleeve for inflammation & applying damp heat. Then I come back 6 weeks after the initial appointment (which was Aug. 11, so it's been nearly a month already) & they decide what to do from there.

So. Just to review. It hurts. Like a sonofabitch. I can't sit for long periods of time, I can't stand for long periods of time. My leg & lower back are either half-numb or half-screaming in pain. I gave up trying to be comfortable, and am now willing to settle for something between numbness & pain.

I have an appointment on the 21st. That's 2 weeks from now. She told me to come in earlier if it gets worse...I'm trying really hard not to be a baby about this. The thought of this getting worse? I don't even want to go there. This wears me out. The pain & the insurance bullshit.

On a cheerier note, I made the day of 4 people that helped me get my graduation app in on time. Brownies will do that. :). I'm gonna go watch TV & zone out.

I enjoy irony as much as the next guy, but seriously?  Amidst all the debate over nationalized  health care, my insurance denied my doc's request for me to have an MRI. My doc suspects I have a ruptured disc, and was going to validate said suspicion with an MRI.  BCBS says that they will agree to an MRI, but only after "six weeks of conservative treatment."  

So.  They'll pay for (I assume...which may be rather foolish) "six weeks of conservative treatment" based on an (here's that word again) assumed diagnosis.  I've had an x-ray, so we know I don't have a broken back (tho I'm pretty sure that would have been pretty obvious).  My doc based his diagnosis of a ruptured disc on my inability to lift my right leg, straightened, to a 45 degree angle...getting beyond that is laughable.  That and my leg and foot going numb.  Oh, and did I mention the pain?  Cuz it hurts like a goddamn sonofabitch.

I'm pretty frustrated.  I'm guessing that I'll be making another appointment with my doc to discuss said "conservative treatment," and then going off somewhere else for PT .  I hope I feel better about this after I talk to my doc.  For now I'm sitting firmly between "pissed off" and "highly irritated."