whoo boy… it’s been a tough day. i got up at my normal “work” time, i.e. when moe got up, around 6:30 am or so, and took the bus downtown, to avoid having to pay for for 5 hours of parking, because i had an appointment for a neuropsychological examination… except that as the bus was pulling into downtown, i realised that i had neglected to print out the address of where i was supposed to be. so i called moe at work, but she couldn’t find a phonebook listing for the doctor, and i wasn’t even sure of the doctor’s name anyway. i was vaguely remembering that it was somewhere near broadway and madison, but there are all different kinds of medical offices in that neighborhood, and i didn’t know the correct address… but i managed to figure it out, with the help of the old lady information person at swedish hospital.
then, i actually had one half of my neuropsychological evaluation (the other half is going to be another 5 hours on friday next week), which literally wore me out mentally. they had me listening to lists of letters and numbers and then telling how many numbers in the list, or listing them back, with the numbers in numerical order and the letters in alphabetical order… or repeating them back, only in reverse order… they had me read a list of nonsense words like zoop and prefqua… they told me three short, and relatively meaningless stories (one about a woman named thompson from south boston who reported to the police that she was robbed of $56, that she has 4 children, and the rent was due, one about a guy named joe garcia from san francisco, who was getting dressed to go out when the TV program he was watching was interrupted by a weather bulletin concerning a storm, and the third was meaningless enough that i don’t remember what it was about at all), and then asked me to repeat them back, as close as i could get to verbatim, 2 hours later… which didn’t happen… and the math questions! i’m not very good at math anyway, even before my injury… but they asked me questions that i wouldn’t have known before my injury: probability questions, the area of an irregular polygon and that sort of thing. there were also questions for which i knew the answers, like “what does the aphorism ‘shallow streams are noisy’ actually mean?”, and questions which i new the answers to, but i didn’t know how to describe them… aphasia questions, like what is the definition of “fortitude”, and questions which i don’t really know the answers to anyway, like “why do we have to pay taxes?” they had me duplicate designs with 9 blocks, including the final design which didn’t actually show the individual blocks, so i had to figure out which way the entire 9-block set as a whole was oriented, as well as figuring out how to duplicate the design… but i did that one, unlike the exact same test that they gave me when i was in the hospital.
then i had an hour-long interview with the phd neruropsychologist (he’s a doctor, but not an MD), where i had to tell him all of the ways i felt my injury had changed me, and also went into my relationship with my parents, and the fact that i spent 15 years in counselling. i thought about mentioning what i’ve heard about AS, but i know that would just complicate things even more, and i’m also aware of the fact that a professional (who it’s not happening to) has a vastly different opinion than a person who actually has a "qualitative" impairment about what, exactly, is a "qualitative" impairment, so i decided to keep my mouth shut for the moment.
so, after 5 hours of tests and an interview, i was spit out of the medical system again, and left to find my way home on the bus. before i left downtown seattle, i checked my seattle PO box (two pieces of actual junk mail and two pieces of mail addressed to others, one to box 368, and one for the architect who hasn’t had that box for 10 years). naturally i was a quarter short on both the bus from downtown seattle to renton, and the bus from renton to home, in spite of the fact that i bought coffee (that and a cookie were all i’ve had to eat today) on the way. when i got home, i turned around and went out again, this time in my car, to check my renton PO box (one piece of junk mail that was a duplicate of the two i got in seattle, plus a catalogue for stuff that i never have ordered (and probably never will), and a CD backup copy of WinRAR). also i went and bought my sweetie ob-flowers and ob-chocolates. obviously, i celebrate valentines day, but then again, i’m not culturally hindu. maybe things would be different if i were culturally hindu, but then i wouldn’t be who i am, so i can’t really say what would happen. also, there’s this article about pornography not having it’s beginnings at the same time as the photographic process, but it’s not really news to me, because i am hindu, and familiar with things like angkor wat.
i found another possibility for a Drunk Puppet Night performance, that’s not based on a frank zappa song! it’s called "They’re Made of Meat" and unlike my idea for the frank zappa song (which hasn’t yet been codified), this should be really easy.
Hmm… that could be a little tougher to figure out, as most of the funding we’d get, I suspect, would go into supplies. We’ll see what happens.
in that case, you even got the right size. as i said, i’m not familiar with that kind of hat, but if it is supposed to be like the genii hat in alladin, then it’s exactly right. i’ll post a picture of me in it eventually.
i don’t know how big my head is either, but it’s around a quarter-inch smaller than it was before my injury… when you look at me, face on, under the right light, you can see the divot in my skull where they did the craniotomy… 8)
i’d volunteer for that job, but at this point i’d be happier about it if it paid money…
i’m not too worried about what will happen to this country, i just want my family and i out of here before they totally destroy everyones lives. i dont know where we will “escape” too, since america has his hands in everyones ass, but we’ll see when the time rolls along.
yeah, the hat is supposed to look a little small. actually, when i wear it, it kinda just sits on the top like disneys alladin. i also didnt know how big your head is, so i bought one that was an average size. but i’m glad you like it. the show looks pretty fun, i wish i lived in the area so i could come by :-p
i’m thinking that it won’t be too long before the "christians" realise that, while this may actually make us more "secure" (whatever that means), it also means the book of revelation is closer to being a reality… and once that happens, we’re either going to have an uprising which overthrows the entire society, or we’ll end up with a whole bunch of "christians" who are saying “eminentise the eschaton” and taking up residence in remote wilderness caves and suchlike
yes, i got your package. thanks for the hat, especially… i’m wearing it to The Moisture Festival, for which i will be running lights and sound, and playing in the fremont philharmonic. i have to ask, though… the hat seems to be a little bit too small… it could just be my imagination, but i’m not sure, because i am not as familiar with the culture to which hats like that belong. what is the “correct” size? it comes down the sides of my head to about half an inch from the top of my ears…
hmm, the spy-d article. once they are forced to be issued, im hoping to be outta this country.
oh, i wanted to ask, did you get my package? i sent it out in like november, but i dont remember if i asked or not…
Dude, where’s my country, indeed. Would someone kindly explain to the gentlemen on Washington the concept of privacy? And then beat them with a bat every time they mention the word “terrorism” or its derivatives in connection with a justification on why they should be encroaching on our privacy?
I’m sure it’ll take a lot of Sluggers, but it should be worth it.
now, complicate that even further by having your brain scrambled, and parts of it taken out and you may begin to see what i feel like… although i’m always interested to hear what doctors and suchlike have to say about tests like this that i take, actually going through the testing part of it is very tiring.
i’m eating another cookie. i’ll probably eat something real when moe comes home, ’cause she said that she was going to make valentine’s day dinner… 8)
I’ve had lots of tests like that throughout my life, mainly for IQ testing. I always thought they were very fun, but several hours would certainly wear me out too.
Are you eating something real yet?
Happy day to you and your love =)