Foiled Again

Whenever I go for a doctor's visit, I fully intend to ask lots of questions and completely explain whatever set of symptoms or condition has brought me to the office. However, that never really happens. The doctor is rushed, or focused on "just the facts," and I usually go along with it, kind of muttering that I guess I feel okay, basically, and I'll just agree to whatever he or she says. Today was to be different. I'd been having some symptoms in my eye that didn't seem to fit what had been previously diagnosed. I mentally prepared a summary of how I'd been feeling and the strange sensations that were sporadically appearing. The doctor entered the room in all his suntanned--just back from vacation--glory. In response to his opening "How are you?", I began to collect my prepared thoughts, beginning with "Well, I have a series of questions." I got as far as the "Well...." and he jumped right in with "Glad to hear it." AND SO IT WENT.

LIE TO ME-- PLEASE!

I watched the new and reportedly highly acclaimed "Lie to Me" last night. It went like this:
Crime psychologist interviewer: " Did you rape Paula Pillowlips?"
Suspect: "No, I did not."
CPI: "You're lying."
Suspect: "How can you tell?"
CPI: "The corners of your mouth turned down when you denied it."
Suspect: "OK, I did it."

Ophthalmologist visit

The eye doctor who I regularly see referred me to another ophthalmologist, who specializes in cataract surgery and Lasik treatment. When Dr. Z. walked into the room he asked me what I was hoping for. I said good news of some sort. "Well, he said, there is no good news. Just look at the mess the political process is." This was at the time when the 2 major parties were agonizing over their choice of candidate. Dr. Z. continued on to say that he thought a better way would be for a panel of educated people, say Princeton graduates, to select a person they thought was qualified to be president and name him as the party candidate, and what did I think of that? I said it didn't sound very democratic, and he responded that democracy wasn't working. He didn't really help me with my vision problems either.

Poverty in real time

I never thought I would witness something like this, but a few weeks ago, I was in the home of a woman who was chopping up a coffee table to feed the wood stove. She and her three children had recently moved from one upstate NY county to another and were awaiting assistance for heating oil. In the meantime the temperature had dropped and the mobile home they lived in was cold and getting colder. There in the corner was a back-up woodstove, but there was no wood supply or money to have any delivered. So she resorted to using a hammer to chop up a small table, and used the kids' old homework papers to get the fire started. What she would feed the stove for the next 4 days until fuel was delivered I never found out. I did return later to bring a smoke detector. I hope she doesn't need it.