Reluctant hero

Song of the day: “Rawhide” from the Blues Brothers, of all things. *sigh* Don’t ask me where that came from. I don’t have a clue.

Well, well, well. Time flies, doesn’t it. Here we are again.

So let’s get started immediately. First thing up is the scan of my varicose vein, right? I had this Thursday and it was by far less painful (mentally, I mean) than my primary visit to the doctor. This particular lady didn’t know much English either, but she was friendly, in an aloof kind of way (I can imagine that when all you do all day is use an eco machine on an endless row of people, that you get a little desensitized) and didn’t get me upset in any way. Yay.

Anyway, I’d been smart this time around. I was wearing a skirt with short leggings underneath, so I didn’t have to undress. All I had to do was hike up the skirt, roll the legging out of the way and we were in business. In case you’re wondering, it is a painless procedure. Inelegant, sure, but painless.

You lay down, get a junk load of transparent goo squirted over your leg, and then lay there while the doctor begins rolling the eco thing toward your groin. When she gets there, you have to tense up your gut for a few seconds, so she can check your blood flow, or some such, and then when that is okay, she checks all the other veins down your legs and hums and nods and then tells you you can clean up.

I asked her if it was really bad, and she said not too bad…later I read the report that I’m supposed to give to my doctor, and it indicated that the varicose veins that are the problem, are superficial, not in the main veins, and that I don’t have thrombosis, so…yay!

Had to make a doctor’s appointment for Monday, and while they were making it I was, all casual like, “Hey, would it be possible to get a different doctor. Like one with more English?” It wasn’t a problem, in the end, thankfully. Apparently, when it is about medical issues, people fully understand that you do not want to mess with a foreign language. I’ll keep you posted on how it works out.

I’m planning on painting an old blanket chest, so I had to practice it. Did it on a small wooden chest, which I sprayed black first and then painted roses, buttercups and cornflowers on it. Sprayed it afterward with a transparent varnish, and voila, a nice little box that served as practice. Since it was cousin Ed’s b-day soon, I opted to put it in the mail and send it to her as a present. Two birds in one hand, and all that. Anyway, it looked a bit Hungarian for some reason, and very nice. Cousin Ed liked it, so that was good, and it made the effort not completely useless for anything other than practice. So for the chest I’m thinking a very bright turquoise, with swirls of ribbons and flowers painted on them. I’m thinking Bohemian, Russian even. I’m curious how it’s going to look in the end, I’ll take pictures and show you.

What else…well, I found my camera, finally. Cleaned it up. Figured I might as well use it this spring, maybe take some nice shots, post them on the photo blog, just for the heck of it.

Had a few dog emergencies this week. Abacara (small Golden Retriever) had a uterus infection, meaning that she needed an emergency operation, poor baby. She was a trooper through the whole thing. At the same time, Niobe, cousin Ed’s dog, got into a tussle with one of the other dogs through the gate, and got his paw seriously ripped up. Got a gazillion stitches between three toes, meaning that he is a very unhappy camper, poor baby. Lastly, Sitabah was feeling so poorly that I thought that she might have a torqued stomach, so that was another trip to the vet. Luckily that wasn’t it. Still don’t know what it was, but she did get a little better, and seems to almost be her normal self again. Lastly there is Dax, who, I think, jumped off something a little too high and got a cut in his back paw, meaning I had to bandage him up…like Niobe, who’s taking off his bandage all the time. Silly dog. Ah well, such is the habit of silly dogs. The whole thing cost a ridiculous amount of money, of course, and will undoubtedly cost more.

What else? So far no news yet about the job. Did  I mention already my first ride? With customers? Well, it could have been a disaster, but luckily it wasn’t. They were very nice people, from Orlando Florida, and they made my first ride a very pleasant one. As for the disaster…well, I was right on time to pick them up, was driving them toward the intended location when a traffic jam started. Yep. I had four paying customers in the car, when some odd hundred yards ahead of us a rather severe accident held up traffic for a whopping 40 minutes. Gawd. They were good sports about it, though. Joked that it was okay, just like home. The thing is, I could have prevented it, if I’d taken a short cut, which was, as it turned out, the thing I should have done. *sigh*

Anyway, it was a nice day, all things considered. We chatted, I did spiels the way I was supposed to, and on the overall, I rather enjoyed myself with the whole thing. Got a nice tip to boot.

Was completely and utterly stressed at the end of the day, however, partly because of the error I had made. Guess it was the previous work experience that caused it, because my new boss was really good about it. He said mistakes happen, no biggie. Had a whole burden drop off my shoulders in the end, but I was exhausted and I needed to unwind so bad that we went to the gym and I worked out for an hour and a half. Hah.

Been training a lot lately. Four to five days a week, and hour to an hour and forty five minutes per visit. T has been going there with us, which is nice. A little more motivation to keep going is never bad. Been increasing my weights steadily, some of them are now up to 140 pounds, meaning that within two months I’ve doubled most of them. Not bad. Added to that back pains are hardly a problem anymore and endurance is getting better two. I know that at the moment it seems a little obsessive, but it is helping with the stress levels really well, which is the aim.

Writing has been a steady thing too. Got the book up to 40K words now, so Yay. The character is slowly realizing that it is too hard for him to only look out for numero uno. I’ll make a hero out of him yet, despite his reluctance to do so for the first part of the story. There is quite a bit of humor in it, and I think I’ve managed to maintain the same level…at least, I hope so. Anyway, I like where the story is going so far, so keep your fingers crossed on that one.

Well, it is incredibly late now, so I better wrap this up. I’ll try not to wait so long with the next blog and add some more detail. Gotta go.