Smoke (or puss) gets in your eyes

Greetings!
 
Sorry for the little blogging vacation – I just don’t seem to have very much time these days. I have no idea what exactly has been taking up my time, but every day feels like it’s shorter and shorter.
 
This past Friday I was supposed to have my wisdom teeth removed. I say “supposed to” because they’re still in my mouth. I had made arrangements with my grandma for her to get off work, drive an hour to get to my house, take me to the oral surgeon’s, then take me back home and deal with my grouchy groggy self. I had also scheduled a sick day (haha, yeah, I “scheduled” a “sick” day). Grandma showed up on time and surprise! My mom decided to come with her! Yay!! We loaded ourselves into the car and headed to Fox Chapel… as we were driving over the Highland Park Bridge (literally MINUTES away from the dr’s office), my phone rang. The doc’s number. “He was called away” was what they told me… well, that’s fine, when do you want me to show up? We can hang out at the Waterworks for a little while… Nope, he won’t be coming back at all for the day. I was thisclose to completely losing it on the phone. I had done everything – fasted, taken the day off work, interrupted other peoples’ lives to have them take care of me – and suddenly it just wasn’t happening. I just don’t understand – any other times my docs have been “called away,” they’ve come back into the office and stayed late to attend to their patients. It’s just good business. And my other docs are actually *real* doctors, who have real, life-threatening surgeries to attend to. This was an oral surgeon. Seriously, what on earth would take the entire day? So yeah, to say that I was ticked is an understatement. It makes me even madder that my grandma and my mom both took the day off work for nothing. If it had been just me taking the day off, fine. But no, they won’t do the surgery without someone there in case something happens. So anyways, I continued over the bridge and ended up in their office, stormed in and got my x-rays back. I really don’t want to go back there. The dude was Dateline-creepy anyways. Now I’m in the midst of trying to figure out if my dental insurance will pay for another “initial exam” so that I can go somewhere else. If not, I’m going to have to suck it up and disrupt yet another weekend to get this done at Dateline-dude’s practice.
 
The high point to last Friday is the fact that 1 suckered my mom and grandma into going to not just 1 of my fave places, but 2. First up was Oakmont bakery where I got an almond macaron, just like you’d find at Fauchon in Paris!!!, a cookie monster cookie that’s STILL nearly [unbelievably] untouched in my fridge, and a “Pittsburgh crème paczki” – basically a HUGE overstuffed donut-y thing… yum. I’m currently finishing the paczki at my desk… and there’s cream filling alllll over my face. I’m so professional at work. The second highlight of the day was lunch at my fave restaurant – The Green Mango. I introduced both of them to Thai Iced Tea (holy yum!), spring rolls, and the ever-popular palate-scorcher Drunken Noodles with Chicken. For anyone reading this who doesn’t live in Pittsburgh or who has not yet experienced it’s magical menu, Drunken Noodles is a REALLY hot noodle dish with rice noodles, napa cabbage, chili flakes, some kind of spicy sauce, and I think there’s basil in it. Add some chicken and you have my favorite restaurant meal. They’re called “Drunken” noodles not because they’re made with a;c
 
What else is new? Nothing entirely exciting. We won last week’s competitive vb games 3-0… we won last week’s recreational vb games 3-0… we lost this week’s competitive vb games 0-3… and we have a rec game on Thursday which is going to be T-O-U-G-H. I’m liking the facts that 1. this is a short work week and 2. this is a pay week. 3. I get to play vb 2 of the 4 days I have to go to work this week.
I am definitely NOT liking the fact that I have some weird eye infection-esque thing going on that is neither an eye infection nor anything that I’ve found any cures for. I am also not liking the fact that I gave myself a black eye last Thursday. Same eye as the non-infection puss-filled eye. Yes, I literally gave myself a black eye. Looks a heck of a lot better today; in fact you can barely tell anymore. It was not so pretty Saturday and Sunday. And ok, yeah, I was secretly proud of myself for giving someone a black eye… even if it was myself. I’m so hardcore.
 
I’ll spare y’all the details about my revelations that a) I have abs! I actually have ABS! Abs you can see! Defined abs!! and b) my biceps were *ahem* bulging out of my arms yesterday at the gym… and last night in front of the mirror… and this morning in front of the mirror… and this afternoon in front of the bathroom mirror at work… It’s like I’m afraid they’re going to disappear if I don’t keep checking on them. :)
 
Ooh, and I went on a little download-spree this weekend. Now hanging out on my “new music” playlist is:
1.) Bel Biv Devoe – Poison album – includes such hits as “Do Me!” and of course “Poison.” I’d swear I had this CD when I was in 7th or 8th grade… but of course I had no idea what any of the lyrics meant… then again, I’m still not entirely sure.
2.) Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack – includes a bunch of songs I can’t pronounce, again with lyrics I don’t understand (but for obviously different reasons than Bel Biv Devoe’s Poison). I watched the movie Wednesday night as my last redbox redblog free movie Wednesday rental, but then didn’t have time to return it before vb Thurs, so I ended up paying for it anyways. I’m pretty cool like that. Anyways, given the techno-like beats to the soundtrack, I might try running to this. The lyrics in the first song include, “They can’t touch me. We break off run so fast they can’t even catch me.” Sounds like it might do for a workout.
3.) Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You. I like “The Fear,” but I really bought this because I loved Alright, Still and listened to it for weeks on end before finally getting tired of it. I took a break from it, and now when I listen to it again, I get a little thrill like the first time I heard it. I’m expecting more of the same from this album.
4.) Some 50’s Car Show music CD that my dad bought a few weekends ago – I can’t remember what it’s called, but I love me some oldies and these songs always remind me of summer, being dragged along to car shows with mom and dad.
5.) Tone Loc – Loc-ed After Dark – There is no song that embodies my entire life more than “Wild Thing.” I listened to it as a kid at my grandma’s house, sneaking into my uncle’s bedroom and listening to his cassettes with huge dj-sized headphones while he was at his friends’ houses; I listened to it in high school; I loved it in college; and to this day, no matter how grouchy I am, hearing this sound always, without fail, puts a huge grin on my face. Funky Cold Medina’s pretty awesome, too.
6.) Joan Jett – I think I covered this in my last post, eons ago. I’m still addicted to “Do You Wanna Touch Me There (Oh Yeah).”
7.) Blind Pilot – The song “Go On, Say It.” I’m 100% sure this was an iTunes free download, but once I actually listened to it, I was craving the entire album. I’ve never heard of this group before… and I can’t find them on the free download sites, so for now I have to stick to one song. All I know is, it fit my mood perfectly, like an old sweatshirt for the soul, yesterday as I was driving in the rain/sleet/freaky April snow to my vb game. They (he?) sound like a beautiful cross between Rufus Wainwright, Guster, and I’m not sure who else. It’s amazing to my ears.
8.) Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow – I developed an awesome car dance specifically for this song. I used to hate the BEP, but their music is great for working out and getting pumped up (“I’m a beast when you turn me on, into the future cybertron. Harder, faster, better, stronger…”)…yup!
9.) Linkin Park/Jay-Z – Collision Course - Ok, I know I’m about a gazillion years late getting this one. Truth is, I love Jay-Z, but I’ve always kind of disliked Linkin Park… that is, until I downloaded Minutes to Midnight solely for “Bleed It Out,” AKA my vb anthem. Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of “Numb/Encore” and it’s really been psyching me up to work out. It’s kind of sad how working out is my prime motivator for downloading new songs.
10.) Seether – “Careless Whisper.” I was never a fan of this song in its original version… perhaps because I was too young when it came out. It just sounded too soft and mushy and icky. But although I am not at all a Seether fan (I think they’re too soft and mushy to be on The X), I’m loving their cover of this song. It just really sounds like they’re totally PO’d and I respect that. I have quite a temper on myself, so sometimes I just need “angry” music.
11.) The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing – On the exact opposite spectrum of music, this is just too poppy and happy to not love it. Ok, I guess it could get old really fast because it’s kind of annoying, but for right now, I love it. This Britpop group is quite catchy. Ever heard the song “Shut Up And Let Me Go?” Yep, that’s them. Also popular is the song “That’s Not My Name.” Good car-dancing music. Car-dancing choreography is also a huge factor in what music I download. :)
 
That’s it for now, sorry for the relatively boring post. Although, I guess none of my posts are really exciting. Probably because my life is lackluster. Maybe I should name this blog “This Lackluster Life.” Kind of like “This American Life,” but with a running commentary on my excruciatingly boring life. Hmm… ideas, ideas…