Docs and blues and tunes

Fair warning: this blog is mainly about nothing, other than frustrations of being an adult.

My favorite about Wednesdays is something that comes from Tuesdays, because every Wednesday I get to spend a joyful half an hour listening to my freshly downloaded Glee tunes.  Tonight's episode was not only full of delicious Britney vocals, but also amazing one liners I will promptly replay whenever I want to scream tomorrow out of frustration.

Why might I be frustrated tomorrow? Because I will be no doubt have a large number of emails to respond to given that today I took a sick day to attend to most of my annual doctor appointments.  That's one visit to my gyno/general practitioner (there's nothing better than a speculum, ladies, right?), one very overdue visit to an actually qualified dentist (that one 15 minute "cleaning" with a dentist in Baltimore doesn't really register on my radar), and a very expensive optometrist appointment, as I had to get new glasses to replace my four year old prescription.

Beyond that, I had to get a tetanus booster, polio booster, vaccination and a TB test; 4 vials of blood drawn for 8 different blood tests AND I have four...count them FOUR small cavities I have to get filled.  My GP also suggested I have some moles removed that look interesting.  Yep, I need a follow up visits to both my doctor and dentist.  Of course, now I am completely freaked out about my moles and can only imagine the worst case scenarios.

My arms are already INCREDIBLY sore from my shots; I received the needles around noon and by 3 pm, it was getting a bit painful to lift my purse. By 6 pm, it hurt to raise my arm to shoulder height.  How did we do this as babies?!  Since I couldn't have my mom, I got ice cream to assuage my sore body.

Why might I need all of these doctors appointments? Well, Topher and I have been officially nominated for an amazing opportunity and the longest and most arduous step in the process is a thorough and very complete medical examination.  It can sometimes take up to six months to complete all of these steps, but we're hoping to get it all sent back by the end of October.

Did I mention that Topher had no cavities and his form is already filled out perfectly? Boo hiss.

I'm also considering jumping on the bandwagon of vlogging.  It's very hard to find the time to write and edit posts, but a five minute video every other day? Potentially doable....

What's new in your life? Good? Bad? In between?

Oh yes, for a turkey leg

As of late, I've been more a flexitarian in terms of meat-eating.  I still try to avoid meat when I can, but I'm also open to eating it when necessary or when I really, really want to.  I find that when meat has already been prepared, it doesn't make sense to not eat it.

Case in point? The annual Renaissance Faire that takes place here in Maryland each fall.  When I first began dating Chris, he introduced me to the wonder that is jousting, ridiculous costumes and yummy food.  I didn't believe him when he said turkey legs were amazing, but he was right.  I wasn't sure if I would partake this year, but smelling the amazingness of that juicy leg, I couldn't resist.  Coupled with ice cold Coors Light and followed by vanilla ice cream in a cantaloupe bowl, I was in heaven.

And it was so worth it.

The second best part of the ren fest is watching the conglomerate of people that converge for the event.  Time is best spent admiring and maybe sometimes cringing at the various costumes people don for the occasion.  Any costume seems to go, so they range from very accurate period medieval statements to ninjas and Xena the Warrior Princess.  Classic.

I've clearly fallen out of the blogging lifestyle, as I forgot to take pictures beyond these few, but feast your eyes on the Robin Hood hat I should have bought and some character costumes from the day.

Have you ever been to a Renaissance Festival?

I'm so ashamed.

This post's title has two very different meanings.

The first is a very public, very shameful, very sad-faced and long overdue apology to everyone who honors me by clicking over here to read my ramblings.

I'm sorry. Forgive me?

It's the beginning of the school year over her in my world and life has gotten...hectic.  Beyond that, there has been something else taking up a lot of my interweb stalking time...something I hope to share quite soon.

So, e-friends, please accept my apologies. I promise never to leave you so high and dry again.  I've missed you!

And now for the second meaning behind this title.

Over Labor Day weekend, hubs and I drove to North Carolina to visit my parents.  Usually it's a massive headache to do the seven hour drive, but luckily we both took off Friday, left at 5:30 in the morning and were there by lunch time! It made for a very enjoyable four day weekend, made even better by the beach and a happy Boomer dog that LOVES my parent's dogs.

But. And I mean, a big but. There is one evening from that holiday weekend that makes me ashamed of the human race.

On Saturday night, we decided to play some Apples to Apples, drink some wine and generally enjoy life.  My mom called up and invited over a friend of hers, we'll call her Suzie, and her daughter, who attends the high school where my mom teaches.

Suzie makes me and Topher sick.  Somehow, someone mentioned either Obama or the White House or SOMETHING and Suzie took her opportunity to state "Well, I wouldn't be too upset if someone bombed the White House and our president happened to be inside."

WHAT?! Toph and I looked at each other and I almost puked.  She then went on to say that she supported the idea because she hates him for allowing a Mosque to be built at Ground Zero.

Let me let you take that in for a second. Yes, my parents' neighbor did in fact just advocate for assassinating our president, and yes, she wants it to happen based on her very limited understanding and misconceptions (and also somewhat obvious bigotry) related to the Islamic Center proposed for an area in downtown Manhattan.

Her defense? "Well, we're from New York."

I swear to you all, if my parents had not raised me to have respect for people I just met, I would have verbally whipped her so hard her ass would still be stinging. I still somewhat regret not saying something to her face even now.

Especially when you consider that she went on to utter such statements as "faggy" (twice) to describe the Dallas Cowboys and referred to her child's health teacher as "that black one."

I was disturbed, saddened, angered and deeply ashamed.  Ashamed that Americans who actually feel this way and still use this language exist.  Ashamed that my parents have to resort to hanging out with people like her.  Ashamed that I didn't say anything to her face, out of some sense of respect for my parents.

The next day, I did ask my mom how she could spend time with someone like that.  In essence, she agrees that Suzie is quite ignorant and that mainly, since moving to NC four years ago, they still haven't found many people that they actually like and can hang out with.  My mom also maintains that she didn't want to embarrass Suzie in front of her daughter by calling her out.  I gave my mom my opinion and she knows that I will never spend another minute in the presence of Suzie and she, I believe, is also deeply questioning her "friendship" with this new neighbor.

Thoughts?