Here kitty kitty....

Good afternoon happy campers!! (that was for Jeff Townsend's benefit by the way).

Today I had a "cat scan." Now while I am very fond of the phrase, "You could swing a cat and hit a...." as in, " In Boston, you could swing a cat and hit a Starbucks." (Which is AMAZINGLY accurate) This has NOTHING to do with cats and scanning, laser-tag-esque guns. IMAGINE my disappointment as I was all ready to play "Lara Croft" and the cats were going to be evil-take-over-the-world-types. (Stacie, this has nothing to do with Bailey, I love him dearly!!!! Suki, though, well that's another story....)

No, no, this started with a (surprise!) IV, ('cause I possibly can't get stuck ENOUGH this summer). Lab techs at UT, have a resoundly LOW tolerance for "crack-den-in-New-York" comments. But please, if two guys had a tourniquet wrapped around your arms and were gleefully commenting over not one, but TWO good veins, will then, you would be tempted to make some analogies yourself!!

Public Service announcement.
On drugs. Let me just say that any person insane enough to willingly and willfully inject themselves on a regular basis with foreign substances is not only a complete imbecile, but should be without hesitation be committed to the Rigoletto Home for the Mentally Incapacitated. In Turin.


Back to the tale; I then got to lay on a bench that slides in a big metal cheerio (I think of "Stargate", but that's just to get you ready for NERD-ALERT forthcoming, and I did not emerege into a parallel universe..), while they pumped a bizarre warming substance into the IV. To all my students that have been asking and WILL ask, I'm not sure if it made me glow or not, oddly enough, I didn't look into a mirror until hours later. Then they took the needle out. I'm always careful to note this and be THANKFUL. However, to add to the list of things I've learned, there's no such thing as a "Band-Aid" that is useful for helping to clot a needle-bleeding. Instead, what they learn in med-tech school (and please know that I really do LIKE the people at UT, they have been lovely!), is to put a pound of cotton and a roll of what might as well be duct-tape. In fact, I might bring in my own duct-tape next time. It would add that whole "east Tennessee" flavor to the look.


Now to the Fall on the Floor Laughing segment:
To spend ANY time with me, is to know that one of my "happy places" (besides Railway Stations in Europe) is a book/coffee cafe (such as Barnes and Noble and Borders)
where I can journal without the home distractions of the West Wing channel (known as Bravo). Usually, I am able to think and write in peace, while taking note of my surroundings and fellow book&coffee junkies. And normally, it's a diverse crowd, but tame. NOT today. Today required National Geographic to document. There was a small, but wild, herd of "Card-gamers", found in comic-book stores and basements and Sci-fi channel conventions everywhere. I have yet to encounter such a herd in these surroundings; it was absolutely fascinating. There was quite a brouhaha, however, as this species apparently anticipates the upcoming DVD release of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and there were boxes of new gaming cards to be opened and bartered over and countless inside Orc-jokes. Truly, I cannot begin to convey the wondrous rituals I observed.



*****Vagabonds - HOW HOW HOW did things go today?? Call/email in ASAP. I know without question that today's show was brilliant and superbly run. I am immensely proud of you all and love and miss you dearly!!!!!