skittle skattle skeedaddle

December 1

The holiday season moves into full grind, and though work is not too demanding, the rest of life is taking up all the slack. Thus, less updating.

We put our Turkey weekend to good use, by going to the Macy's parade, eating turkey (duh), doing a bit of shopping, and sleeping a lot. Oh, and getting ready for Matt's first gig, in Texas during our Christmas visit. Cue sudden panic as we realize that we haven't worked out the light cues and stage-rigging. So that's what the next few weeks are all about, me and Matt doing some run-throughs after work. Here in the city, I will only be his light crew, but for road gigs, I am also the DJ, so this should be fun.

Matt's also got to warm up his pipes, since he hasn't done a gig's worth of singing since his band broke up 3 years ago. But at least he won't have to worry about not knowing the material.

It's a lot of fun, putting a show together, and a lot of work. I have zippo experience in this sort of thing, so I just have to hope his theater-training insures we don't miss anything important.

In non-Matt news, I have updated my links page, which mostly means taking out sites that haven't updated in 3 mos or so, and adding some new sites that I read but haven't given props--or is that mad props--to.

I have also finished my review of Slaughterhouse Five, and will be working on Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King next. You would not believe how hard anything of his is to find in a cheap paperback! I hope this means he is unjustly overlooked, not that he bores the crap out of everyone. But since I will be visiting the Land of Half Price Books over Christmas (hey Strand Books: your stores still suck), I'll do my best to find it there, and take it for a spin. This only leaves Faulkner, Roth, and Mailer, which I guess I will get to sometime by spring. I really was going to get all these read this summer, but you know, life.

I need to tell this story before I wrap up. A few weeks ago, after my primary care physician had lost their third referral for me, I had finally had it, and changed docs. Having nothing else to go on, I picked an office close to my apartment.

Well, it didn't go so well. I get there, to find that you have to walk through an acupuncture/massage clinic to get to the doctor's office part. Well, ok, whatever, but why was there a woman in a kimono getting geisha makeup put on her at the front of the store? I am not making this up. Anyway, I sit down in the dingy little room at the back of the store and they give me the forms to fill out. I get through one page, flip it over, and discover I am reading a fax about some other patient's lab results. Yep, with his name and everything, right there, along with his test results.

Now, I'm not a lawyer, but this does NOT seem to bode well for this clinic's grasp of confidentiality laws. I give them a chance, though. I go up to the receptionist and show them they have used the back of someone's lab results as copy paper. "Oh, that's ok, just fill out the form," they reply, and all my little alarm bells went off. I do not need to lie awake at night wondering if my test results are getting fed into the copier to make flu-shot fliers. Off I go, to change my doctor yet again, report a second set of moronic yahoos to my insurer, and keep my fingers crossed. My new doc appointment is next week. Maybe third time is the charm.