draining

All things considered, yesterday’s trip didn’t go too badly. I hate flying with my cat. Seeing her distraught makes me physically ill – I honestly thought I was going to throw up on the way to the airport. Fuck the TSA and fuck national security. People need to use their eyes and their brains once in a while. Don’t make me take the animal out in the middle of a loud and crowded security line so you can X-ray the cat carrier, when you could simply look inside the damn thing to check for explosives. And where do airlines get off charging $100+ each way for letting a pet travel in the cabin? Pets don’t take up seats – they take the place of one of your carry-ons!!!  There’s no service the airline is providing, so WTF!?! 

But, a trip that doesn’t involve poop coming down the conveyor belt is considered a success. After her initial meowing session Fuzzy Butt settled in and seemed just fine in the carrier (she even felt comfortable enough to groom herself in there). She also made friends with the most adorable little girl at the airport. This child looked like a doll come to life – rosy cheeks, blonde curls, blue eyes. She wore a ridiculous pair of bright green velvet pants that flared at the ankle over a pair of pale pink boots. She told me about her many pets, including her favorite cat Jasmine, who disappeared in the forest one day. Jasmine was probably eaten by a coyote, as they found a cat-skull in the area a few days later (it’s odd how children can talk about the most gruesome things in such a matter of fact way).

I had a nasty stomach ache which made the flight seem unbearably long even though we landed on time. Things got exponentially better when I reached home. Fuzzy re-acclimated to the apartment almost instantly. The place also wasn’t as dirty as I remembered having left it, which was a pleasant surprise. I tidied up a bit, had a great chat w/ J and dropped by Qdoba for a Queso Burrito, after which I promptly fell asleep for a good 3 hours. Not much else got done yesterday, though I did do a bit of reading for class, and talk again with J later in the evening. It felt great to be home. I went to bed ready for what tomorrow would bring.        

Unfortunately tomorrow involved six hours of lecture, with maybe 2 that were halfway decent. Which is unfortunate because Neuro and Psych should be my two favorite subjects. We had a patient presentation for Psych, which, somewhat ironically, was horribly depressing. There was a man who spoke about having a son with schizophrenia and a daughter with severe depression. A woman who was in recovery from severe depression (probably the most positive story of the three). And another man who suffered from various mental disorders which led him to self medicate with drugs and alcohol..as well as to "seek adventure" by dealing drugs and committing armed robbery (for which he served time in prison). This last man was by far the most eccentric. He showed up with a live bird on his shoulder – a "service bird," which apparently keeps him company and provides support. His message to our class was that none of us are special, and that what happened to him could just as easily happen to us (he also attended medical school prior to the onset of his symptoms). Wow. Exactly what I needed to hear today. All three of them were doing well enough now to be involved in mental health outreach programs, but somehow that didn’t make me feel any better for them or inspired in any way.

I was in a foul mood even before the patient session. I stopped by the Sprint store to sign a new contract and pick up my long awaited Evo. Which would have been great except that the Sprint salesmen couldn’t figure out how to port my old AT&T number. I don’t mean to be a jackass, but this is a really common and basic procedure. I still don’t understand what the problem was – whether the salesmen were incompetent or Sprint’s infrastructure is crap (having just signed a 2 year contract with Sprint, I’m hoping it’s the former). So after wasting my entire lunch break, the two geniuses at the store assigned me a temporary number and told me to call customer services myself in about an hour. Fine. After 3 more grueling hours of class I called customer service only to be put on hold for 20 minutes, then assigned another temporary number and told that my desired number would be activated in 72 hours. FINE. Then I realize that my phone wasn’t actually capable of placing calls or sending text messages because "the account had not been validated."  It took two more calls to customer service to sort things out completely, but I know have the phone I want with the plan I want with the number I want. I just can’t believe it was this difficult!! It may not sound like a big deal, but things like this stress me out infinitely more than school ever could. I find them so draining. It must be the complete lack of control over the situation.     
   
At least the Evo is awesome as advertised. I just downloaded about 20 apps, including one for a Police Radio Scanner (so bizarre!!!)