Jayne Doodles

I hab no bottom libbit!

I went to the dentist yesterday; I was looking forward to it because the appointment was at 11 am and I had the rest of the day off.  I was hoping to get to the gigantic backlog of posts I have queued up and waiting for that final little polish before I send them off to enthrall the cyber-world.  And I don't fear the dentist, as so many seem to - my childhood dentist was an amateur spelunker, and also collected semi-precious rocks.  After each appointment, we were allowed to pick out a specimen from his collection and take it home with us.  I usually chose fool's gold; we used it as money in our never-ending games of cowboys-n'-indians with the neighbor kids.  This treat seems to have outweighed the urkishness of the nasty little gel tray and the whir of the polish.

Well, new dentist, different story.  It seems that dentists are so tired of people complaining that the procedures are painful, that they make you numb for every little thing - even a routine cleaning.  I bet I could make a decent argument that the numbing process hurts worse than the procedure would, but that's neither here nor there.    Apparently, they only do one-half of your face at a time, so you can attempt to control your face a little.

And boy, was I numb.  I couldn't feel my eyelids.  One half of my nose collapsed, I couldn't tell whether my mouth was open or closed, and my cheek had a phantom itch, which I couldn't scratch because there was no feeling in my face!  As I left the office, I took a look in the mirror and smiled - and half my face did not respond.  I looked like a stroke victim.  The whole thing reminded me of Bill Cosby's routine about going to the dentist:

Patient: ubI cabent feel my bottom libbit!

Doctor: What?

Patient: My bottom libbit!  Libbit!  My bottom libbit is obbon de floor!

Doctor: I don't understand.

Patient: My LIBBIT!!!

Doctor: What about your lip?

Patient (in disgust): Oh, nebber mibbind.

Doctor: What?

After all the excitement, I went home and took a nap.  Then I watched movies until the pain in my head from the Novocain injections went down a little.  Let me clarify: the Novocain was just fine; it's the needle they stick in that's about an inch and a half long that really destroys you.  "Now don't worry.  You're going to feel a little pressure, and then I have to find the nerve."  Yeah.  Well, the nerve is up there a bit, and that thing going through the roof of your mouth in an effort to find the nerve - "oh, let me tell you!  You found the nerve!  Stop!  Stop!  You found the nerve!" 

I'll get around to the posting backlog soon enough.  A few things should appear over at Stackable Bards later today, and then, of course, I'm off to see Serenity. 

Grand Rounds #53

Grand Rounds #53 is up at Family Medicine Notes.  Read!  Enjoy! And then go have fun at Stackable Bards.  :-)

Word wars

I had a dream last night that my vocabulary revolted and fought a fierce civil war, with plebeian words like "splat" and "grunge" going up against the more refined "munificence" and "calumny".  Consequently, I woke up this morning muttering things like "morally benificent forums" and "strategic antidispensational corrosive devices".   Very odd.

Menus

This weekend was perhaps the most fantastic time I've had in Seattle this year.  I saw an interesting and provocative movie on Friday night, I went to the Seattle Symphony on Saturday night with friends and heard perhaps the best classical concert I have ever attended, and I went to dinner Sunday with my ex-roommate and her family visiting from D.C.  They took me to the Space Needle, which I have never patronised for dinner as it is usually beyond my budget.  Let me just say: Yum.  And tonight I shall sit at the Crocodile Cafe and enjoy Pedro the Lion and Damien Jurado, whom I do not know well, and see if I want to know them better. 

Only one thing marred the perfection of the weekend, and it was a small misunderstanding having to do with dinner Saturday night.  The original plan was to go out.  Saturday morning I talked to Mrs. Bee and we decided to stay in; I would cook.  Unfortunately, this was not communicated to Mr. Bee, who had already made reservations for that evening as an outing for my birthday.  I received the phone call from the poor man half-an-hour before dinner and we worked it out.  I went to the restaurant, but with a few pangs in my heart, for I had created a masterpiece.  :-)   I surrendered the dinner and its accoutrements to my roommate, who was practically drooling as she shoved me out the door...

I cook often enough that it is not a big deal, but Saturday's dinner was extra special. In honor of my culinary efforts being cut down in their prime, and because my guests did not get to enjoy it (and neither did I) here is the menu (so you can, by proxy):

--prime ribeye steaks, marinated in merlot with garlic and fresh basil, then seared and simmered to perfection

--baked rosemary thyme red potatoes, garnished with carrot and red bell peppers spears

--field greens garnished with pine nuts

--garlic toast, broiled until just crisp

And it was all perfect!  Done just right and on time!  There is no way to describe the delectable scents drifting out of the kitchen as I made my way down the stairs and fled the scene.  The restaurant was lovely.  But oh! for the lost dinner.  :-)

This post is a paean to my pride, because damn! I am a good cook.   ;-)

The Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal, one of the world’s most well-known Holocaust survivors, died yesterday.  Known as “the conscience of the Holocaust,” Wiesenthal dedicated his life to hunting down Nazi war criminals and bringing them to justice. 

It’s worth asking - when the conscience of an event dies, what happens to those left behind?  Simon Wiesenthal was certainly not the only person to speak out against the horrors of the Holocaust, but he was remarkable for his relentless pursuit of justice and crusade against racism and anti-Semitism.  He was single-mindedly devoted to an unequal task, and while the event he struggled with is years past, the evil he spoke to prevent is still prevalent. Will we be as relentless in our fights against the evils done in the world?  Will we battle as passionately for the rights of the oppressed, the safety of the abused, and the justice of the victims of vicious cruelty and terror?  Will we protest the apathy of institutions meant to prevent the awful crimes of genocide which instead gather in committees to discuss the meaning of the word while people suffer by the thousands, their deaths slowly silencing their cries for help and intervention?

I have hoped that Simon Wiesenthal finally found peace.  And I pray that while we live, we will not be content with the peace others have won but will continue to dwell in the service of justice and compassion.

Back again - a "life" update

I'm back!  Back to Seattle, back to work (blech!), back to my own house and my own bed and my own computer which freezes every 20 minutes.  Hmm.  Perhaps some things are not worth celebrating.  :-)

Wedding was wonderful, as expected.  I did my best to help out while I was there, although I did end up getting lost at least three times, once traveling all the way into downtown D.C. at 3 in the morning before realizing that the people I was dropping off didn't actually know where their hotel was, so we'd passed it about 25 minutes previously.  Not my best moment, I can assure you. :-)  Bride #2 was radiant, and even though we all joked our hearts out with her beforehand, she was "emotional" all the way down the aisle.  Luckily, Groom #2 is accustomed to the depth of feeling, and the rest of us had tissues to stem the tide. 

I did get a chance to tour around the city a bit; both Sunday and Monday I took the metro downtown and walked around the Mall a bit.  The Washington Monument is as tall as ever, the Lincoln Memorial is as imposing as ever, the Vietnam memorial is downright awe-inspiring, and the 16 foot Iwo Jima sculpture/statue bowls me over every time.  This trip I also got a chance to see the newly completed World War II memorial.  I even got my picture taken by the pillar of Washington!  Of course, it wasn't my camera, so I'll have to wait for that one.  In the meantime, here're a few shots of the memorial taken by Rick Latoff of the American Battle Monuments Commission. 

The Washington pillar is the second in from the right side of the photo.

And then this part is what grabs you by the throat and holds you hostage to the realization that men and women fought then, as they fight now, for someone else's freedom; that we died for others in a sacrifice that could not be other than holy.  And it was not about the demands of our sovereignty, but rather the demands on our mercy, the demands of our humanity, of our compassion, of our unwillingness to stand aside any longer while fellow man killed and murdered and raped and starved those who were not us, but looked to us in that desperate hour.

Whoa.  I feel rather strongly about that.

Post-wedding, I traveled from D.C. to Chicago and stayed with some good friends for a few days.  Good times, as always, but we were much more productive than normal, in that we brought into fulfillment a long-cherished idea: Stackable Bards, a group blog that has started out by taking some of our best posts and republishing them, as well as adding new content and a bunch of fun features, like a Google RSS feed in the sidebar and a reviews section (not yet off the ground) as well as (hopefully) some neat quotes and other goodies.  And the blogroll is something to behold!  Hop on over there and take a look - there should be a bunch of intriguing things, and hey! if we don't hold your interest, there's always Google News.  :-)

We didn't just do blog set-up; I caught up on a bunch of Veronica Mars and even got in some Cowboy Bebop.  And played a little Disgaea.  And saw Sky High.   And Harry Potter! And slept, walked, talked, had great Chinese, and saw two of my siblings.  Busy time for all, and the best type of vacation.

So yes.  Now I'm home again, and trying to deal with all that being home involves: car issues, apartment issues, birthday issues, and catching up at work.  The car is (just this last hour!) finished, I am now officially broke, I figured out that I don't have to move at the end of this month, my birthday fast approaches, and work has slowed down from the initial KABOOM of piled-up stuff to the usual steady slowness.  My friend TF6S complains about being behind the loop, but he's still a great deal further ahead than me (at least, that's how it's felt for the past five days!)   :-)

Hopefully I'll get a chance to change all that this week - I'm going to be writing fiendishly!  Ahhh! 

Eh.  That's what I like to do.  No more complaints from me.  :-)

Quick Update

Good afternoon, gentle reader.  Ah, for the pleasures of friends, naptime, and internet access.  All of which I am enjoying in abundance this afternoon.

Sorry for the lack of posting recently - it has been a good trip out to DC and another lovely wedding, and while I saw plenty on New Orleans, Rehnquist, Iraq, and politics in general, I just haven't had the time to post regarding these issues.  And I still owe an Iraqi constitutional analysis, not to mention a rundown on the capital city.

Soon, my friends.  Patience will be rewarded, and I will thank you for it.  :-)