more than the doctor ordered

monday was my annual physical, which, as my sometimes-employed friend commented, is just something that those of us who have health insurance do. so yeah. i went. (figured i should especially make sure to get in there before my insurance coverage changes in january.)

anyway. i've had this annoying rash on my right-hand fingers since before my mission, so since it's now been more than 6 years that it hasn't gone away of its own accord, i decided it was high-time to bring it to my doctor's attention. he looked at it, asked some questions, looked again, and said he'd give me something stronger than cortisone-10. he wrote the scrip and i was on my way.

down in the lobby there was a pharmacy, and as i breezed past it on the way to my car, i decided i would see what it's like to be like the rest of america and actually just go to the pharmacy located at my doctor's office. so i turned around and walked right in.

when i walked in, there was only one other "customer" there (don't know why i put quotes around that, but i did. live with it.) he was a kinda-scruffy-looking guy, mid- to late-twenties, with a worn-out black t-shirt from some band i'd never heard of, and a tattoo on his right bicep. he was waiting in the general area of the pharmacist window, so i stopped to evaluate the situation. he quickly acknowledged that he had already been helped. so i marched up to the window and gave the pharmacist my prescription. because i hadn't been to that pharmacy before, she needed to collect some information:

"address?"
i gave it to her.
"phone number?"
i gave it to her.
"date of birth?"
i gave it to her.
"date of birth?"
i hesitated ...

as i stood there looking at her, a panic quickly came over me: "i thought i gav--" "didn't i just ans--" i looked to my left, then to my right ... !! ... "have i entered some sort of time warp?!" i scratched my head. i looked up at the pharmacist. i looked down at the paper. but, but there it was: she had just written *down* my date of birth. so why was she asking me *again*? i looked up at her again.

it was then that the pharmacist let out a nervous giggle. oops: she'd asked that question twice.

the other customer piped in at this point, smoothing over the situation with a bit of flirtatious humor, "it's okay, she doesn't look like she's that old."

i turned around; i'd forgotten he was there. i probably looked pretty surprised when i turned around, but then i smiled before i turned back to the pharmacist who had a few more questions for me.

as i waited for my prescription, pharmacy boy made small talk. it was kinda fun, but kinda awkward, neither one of us knowing how long this conversation would last before the prescriptions were filled. he was nice.

after about 10 minutes, the pharmacist had his prescription ready. as he packed up his stuff, he seemed to be hesitating a bit. he walked over to me again to ask one more quick question as he fumbled through his wallet looking for his business card. he finally found it and handed it to me with a smooth, "we should do lunch sometime." to which i responded with an equally smooth, "okay."

as he headed toward the door, he had one final comment: "i'm not normally dressed like such a scruff, just when i ride my bike ..." and right then i noticed that his big leather jacket had a harley logo.

he rides a bike! swoon!

a new hangout

i have been forced to a new hangout. well, i suppose it really is a result of choice and my own ill-planning (but who wants to claim that?). the new digs? the airport. yep. much like unto tom hanks in the terminal, i have been spending quite a bit of time at the airport. i’ve learned my way around, made a few friends, reserved my own stall in the restroom, contracted a poor starving musician to play where everybody knows my name when i arrive. i am becoming quite familiar with this place. and the routine that has regrettably become my norm whenever i fly.

tonight i've been here for 6 hours already. about 5 more to go. and all i have to say is that i really hope that i can escape this fate. i don't really want everyone here to know my name. though, i wouldn't mind if the cute tsa guy remembered it ...

for the second time this month, i find myself with too much airport time on my hands -- and unfortunately with too much hot chocolate on my shirt. :S (okay, it's only the first time for that this month, but yeah: as you can see, it's been a great evening.)

about two weeks ago, i missed my flight to houston by 20 minutes. argh. it was a surprisingly painless experience once all was said and done. but let me sing the song of that evening for you.

my flight was to depart at 620. i calculated that on a wednesday evening, i could leave my client's office by 430 and arrive in perfect timing -- perhaps i'd have to walk briskly through the concourse. of course, when making my calculations, i didn't take into account the huge accident that was to occur mid-way from my client's office and my house at 422 on this particular wednesday ... so, instead of the 15 minutes that it takes to get from westlake village to my house on a *regular* wednesday, it took me 1 hour. which then ruled out using the flyaway with its stressfree ride and $4-a-day parking. so, in a panic, i called my 70-year-old roommate ... and she graciously saved this pathetic, punctually-challenged punk. the drive down to lax usually takes about a half hour -- i needed it to take 20 minutes, max. which of course, it didn't. because it was a wednesday. i guess. so ... leaving my house at 530, we pulled up to terminal 5 at 645.

now, don't start to think too much ill of me. not only did i have enough capacity of thought to call my roommate as i stared at the 40 gabillion red tail lights between my client's office and my house, but i also thought it prudent to call continental airlines. y'know, see if maybe they might hold the plane for me. umm. that’s a no. apparently.

"okay, so is there another flight tonight?"

"well, there aren't anymore flights tonight, but there is one that leaves at 1 am and i can put you on that," the customer service rep suggested.

"great."

"there’s a $100-change fee ..."

of course there's a fee. "... uhh, okay ..."

"... and then you just pay the difference in the airfares -- which is $600. so for $700 i can get you on the next flight." she sounded altogether too perky to be delivering such news.

perhaps because of her perkiness, i thought about that for about 37 seconds, but ultimately concluded, "umm, i can't do that."

"okay. is there anything else i can help you with?" again with the perky.

"no. thank you," i said, with a new determination to make it to lax in time.

when i arrived, i walked straight up to the ticketing counter.

the cute guy there asked "what time is your flight?"

"i just missed it."

"to houston?"

"yeah. is there another flight i can get on?" i asked.

"yes, the red-eye. it leaves at 1."

"yeah? can i get on that?" i tried to seem like this was new information for me. maybe i could get out of the enormous fee if i looked desperate enough.

"certainly." i liked this guy.

"umm, and how much is it to change?" please don't say $700, please don't say $700.

"it's a $25-change fee." i really liked this guy. evidently continental airlines has recently implemented an i-didn't-plan-ahead special. that's okay by me!

so after saving myself $675 that evening, i figured i could splurge when my brother-in-law suggested that i buy a dvd to watch on my laptop while i waited the 6 hours for my new flight. and it was a good idea. it took some looking, but i finally found a shop that had dvd's: a bunch that didn't interest me at all, but they had stranger than fiction which i originally had no desire to see because will ferrell stars, but my sister said that she really liked it, so i thought i'd give it a try: there weren't too many options. and i *loved* that movie. (except for the ending, which completely, totally, and entirely disappointed, but that's fodder for another blog.) i was quite entertained by the story and the storytelling, and there were only a few moments where i felt like the "message/moral of the story" squelched the entertainment value. quite good. yes, it was quite good.

tonight's events followed a similar melody with a few variations (for interest): left work at 6 for a 9-o'clock flight, attempted the flyaway this time since traffic wasn't quite so bad (it's not wednesday after all ... well, *now* it's wednesday, but it wasn't when i decided to take the flyaway), got to the airport at 820, but didn't get to my terminal until 850. i missed boarding by 5 minutes. ugh. but ... i've already been through this routine ...so it was less stressful. the only problem is that the next flight to salt lake isn't until 8 in the morning.

at this point, i have already watched my new airport flick pick (eragon -- not bad), downloaded the pictures from my camera onto my hard drive, named them, removed all the red eyes from them, spilled hot chocolate on my brand new white tank, and now i fear that this black seat is forever molded to my boney hiney. i might need to leave an apologetic letter to future occupants ... if i can ever pry myself up. which ... i should consider doing ... i think it's about time for a potty break ...

a rough weekend

cute guy dumped me on saturday night.

i dumped perfect boy on sunday night.

it was a rough weekend.

fresh air

i just got an email from the scheduler here at work ... and ... no more stinky client! yea!

starting next monday, i will either be at a different client doing year-end preparation work -- one of my favorite clients to work on -- or back in my office. which i am so happy about.

now, i have to admit that this week here at the stinky boring client really hasn't been as bad as previous weeks. i still just have a bad taste in my mouth from it, though. so it will be nice to leave for reals.