I'm boot free!

I had three appointments today:

• I had my teeth cleaned, which really was the most painful of the three as it involved taking those damn bite-wing x-rays of my whole mouth. Thank goodness they recommend that for only every three-five years.
  
• Had two porcelain crowns and a temporary filling put in (the latter to replace one that had broken when I chewed a sugar-free mint too hard). We're going to pre-authorise a bridge, assuming the crowns haven't taken all my benefits this year. It may have to wait for next year. I think that's all the crowns needed for root-canaled teeth, though. If you don't crown them, they get brittle and break after a root canal, as I found out.
  
• The podiatrist was happy to be able to touch my feet without my nearly yelping. She suggested I use my lace-up brace (much smaller) on my ankle when working for awhile and to do stretching exercises such as tracing out the alphabet with my ankles each day (this is apparently one way to get total range of motion). If it had been really bad still, she would have sent me to physical therapy. I worked yesterday without the boot to see how I would do and am just a little sore today after being on my feet for seven hours, so I think I'm on the mend.
  

I was off from the hospital due to the appointments. I also:

• Went to the public library branch between my house and the doctor's office (it's about a block away from where I live, and both dentist and podiatrist are near the hospital, which is just about the same distance further). I picked up several interesting books, including one that seems to argue that the UFO phenomena/ideas that ancient astronauts came and founded civilisations entered the public mindset through the writings of HP Lovecraft. Hmmmm...well, there are extraterrestrial Mi-Go, Cthulhu, the Elder Things, the Great Old Ones (whose bodies, though conical, were actually already here, but their minds are alien), etc. It might make for an interesting read, anyway.
  
  
• Went over to Sqecial Media and nearly died of coughing because I forgot how incense-laden the store is. I went in to look at earrings but they were working on that section and had it pulled apart. So I picked up a birthday card for my mom, a scarab sticker for the car, a bumper sticker to replace my old one, and a package of charcoal for incense (to be burned at the appropriate time when I'm not still having times where I'm fighting for breath). I had to ask for the charcoal. The two girls looked at me like I meant the stuff that goes in grills. The man was more knowledgeable and pulled out three packets, one of which he said was slow-burning and better for a hookah. Since I just needed the bricks for a censor, I took the cheapest packet. :) Hookahs have apparently become pretty popular around the university. There was a hookah bar that opened where people could go to smoke flavoured tobaccos, but I don't know how it has fared. I'm just glad I don't smoke. Even being around someone who has been smoking has been setting off my coughing fits (as has perfume, to be fair). Thank goodness Lexington has an indoor smoking ban on businesses that aren't primarily tobacco-related.
  
  By the way, Sqecial (yes, I'm spelling that right) had these cards that were neat in that they folded up and had stereoscopic lenses (think Viewmaster) with art prints such as Dali and Münch to make them look 3-D. Very nice, and although 'The Scream' might have been appropriate for a birthday card in retrospect, I went with a Albrecht Dürer print of a small owl for my mom. She used to collect owl pictures and figures.
  

What I didn't do:

• Call my mom. I got a cell phone call from her yesterday but I don't know if she intended to call me or not. The voice mail sounded like background noise. Or maybe it was garbled somehow. Anyway, I should check.
  
• I didn't call a friend who's really been having a difficult time. I'm going to message her MySpace page and then try to call on Saturday and see if she wants to go out next week, my treat, so I can see how she's doing.
  
• I haven't filled the fish tank yet. That's on the agenda for tonight or tomorrow morning.
  

Saturday I work in the evening. I'd like to spend the morning and early afternoon working at home. I have a lot stuff that just needs to be thrown away, taken to Goodwill, etc. I really need to clean out my car; you can only fit two people in it right now comfortably. I have nearly every shoe I own in it at the moment, the boot, two empty copier boxes, my winter coat, you name it, it's in there. Plus a bunch of trash. My house isn't hoarded up, it just has a lot of drink bottles and stuff like that to get rid of, plus the bathroom needs to be cleaned and the dishes done. Oh, and I'm sure I'll still be working on notes, although I'm trying to be a little better prepared than I was last week. There's a lot more investigation to get in this week, and that takes more transcription time.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll write more soon. Good night.