Diary entry for August 17, 2012

Dear Bloggary,

What a day! I am so glad it's Friday. I am, however, sad that my back is in no condition to fight the crowds at Costco in order to meet The Bloggess (linked to on the right), or She Who Loves Poorly Taxidermied Warthog Heads. Alas.

I'll have you know, Bloggary, that were it not for excellent brakes in that car of mine, I might not be here writing this. I was going along 165th on my way to Aurora when ZOOM out came this car from my right, barely ten yards away. I slammed on my brakes and skidded to a stop, honking as I did so. Whatever imbecile/senile person/degenerate was driving that thing didn't even look my way. And mind you, this was close enough that I was almost certain I was going to T-bone it. I was definitely awake after that...

Traffic (owing to roughly nineteen bazillion stoners going to Hempfest, which is OF COURSE located across the street from my work) was positively ghastly once I got near lower Queen Anne this morning. It took an hour and a half to get to work, which is barking mad. Usually it takes 20-30 minutes. I was not pleased.

My back was exactly the same degree of horrible as it's been lately, but I take some comfort in knowing that it isn't drastically worse. It will actually be weird being pain-free eventually (I'm being optimistic here and assuming it's something easily fixable). I've gotten pretty accustomed to this feeling. I guess it's true what they say, and you really can get used to anything.

I was doing a bunch of calculations today, and I spent a lot of time thinking snarkily how I KNEW those stupid pH calculations they made us do in college were a total waste of time. Like how much of X do we need to add to Y to get a solution that's got a pH of 6.8?

In the real world, we use a pH meter and add either HCl or NaOH, depending on whether we want to go up or down. None of that namby-pamby figuring out how much of some bullshit we need to add to some other bullshit to get the correct pH.

College inorganic chemistry calculations, I scoff at thee.

To be fair, perhaps in the actual field of chemistry that matters. But it sure doesn't for biological stuff, at least in my experience. Anyway, I felt very science-y today. Tons of math will do that to a girl.

Bloggary, our wild blackberry vines finally produced some berries! We have some growing on the side of our yard, and this is the first year they've put out fruit. Normally people around here try to get rid of them, because they're kind of like a weed, but I see free fruit when I look at them, so I wanted them to stay, and now I am being rewarded! I got nine little blackberries off of them, and I bet they're good. I'm saving them to share with Patrick when he gets home from the opera tonight. The one we tried before was very tangy and flavorful. I guess that's the difference between wild and domestic varieties. The same seems to be true of wild strawberries and raspberries (I found some of the latter on the last hike we took, along with wild blueberries).

It's supposed to be ickily hot this weekend and then start Ye Olde Massive Fall Cooldown as we head into the end of August and the beginning of September. I'm not complaining (very much), since the rest of the country has been simmering in its own juices, but I won't be sad to see our heat go. I despise sweating.

I remain hungerless, at least for now. You'll be pleased to note, Bloggary, that I have made an effort to eat things even though I don't feel like it. In fact, I had a nice Thai dinner just last night with my darling spouse. Stuff still tastes good. I just don't have any of the usual hungry feelings. Really, if it wasn't so debilitating, whatever is wrong with me would make a spectacular diet aid.

The MRI was fine. The girl administering it evidently thought I said I wanted to listen to whiny country (what I actually said was, "Anything BUT whiny country.."), so I was treated to a half hour of that interspersed with ads for pickups and a western wear Goodwill-a-thon. Oh well. I'm sure you know the type of music I'm talking about, Bloggary. Irritating crap like "Mah dog died an' mah truck won't start. She took mah money and she broke mah heaaaaart." Even making up whiny country lyrics makes me shudder. Excuse me while I go bleach my brain.

Right, that's done. Oh, and I almost forgot: yesterday I witnessed magic! Or what might as well be classified as such. My passenger side car window miraculously rolls down (and of course back up) again!

Holy Butt Pancakes, Batman! I still can't believe it. I was sure the motor was burned out, since changing the fuse didn't work and it's been not functioning for at least a year and a half. Wtf, window?

My best guess so far is this summer's heat making whatever was congealed on it and sealing it shut melt off finally, and my worst is, I don't know, hummus or gnomes or something. Whatever it was, I officially declare it awesome. It hath saved me money.

Well, Bloggary, I guess that's about it for tonight. I'm gonna go lie around and read Catching Fire for the twentieth time. At least it's something I can do lying down, right? Sigh.

Smoochies,
Adra