The River Green

It really does feel like I'm doing much better with this than Marieke is. Last night, she cried herself to sleep because she wanted to smoke. Today, she is a bit moody.

I find that it's hard to concentrate on anything or have any coherent thought. The mints are helping, but I now have an annoying sore on the left side of my tongue. Marieke's sore is actually a giant hole in the left side of her tongue. I'm assuming that these sores come from constantly having a peppermint of some sort in my mouth.

Smoking is pretty much an exercise in instant gratification. I can't tell you how many days I woke up and while making my coffee, would be smoking that first cigarette, getting light-headed, relishing the feeling of the nicotine coursing through my body. Peppermints, conversely, are exercises in patience. As a result, the peppermints usually don't last more than about 2 or 3 minutes before I chomp into them.

What the neighbors didn't realize when they were setting off fireworks exactly 15 days after the Fourth of July was that Oskar does not like fireworks. I'm sure they didn't know this because if they knew what transpired because of their inconsiderate stupidity, maybe they might have reconsidered violating a long standing city ordinance and state law. But they didn't, so I'm guessing they weren't aware that Marieke and I had just quit smoking and having the dogs become upset and excited- unreasonably so- was just fuel to the fire of our discontent.

Oskar had just parked himself on the windowsill in the upstairs hallway when Marieke yelled up to inform me that if the dogs didn't stay on the second floor, they would not see the sun rise tomorrow. I rushed to his aide, trying to close the window and keeping him upstairs. Just as I had both my arms around him, in an attempt to pick him up and move him away from the window, there was a loud bang and Oskar lurched backward, jamming my right ring finger into the wall with his butt.

The initial pain and welling made me think that I had just stoved it. But then my knuckle began to resemble a concord grape and pain began shotting up my arm. When my finger tip listed to the left more so than is normal, it was off to the emergency room we went.

I wasn't really convinced just yet that my finger was actually broken because a broken finger is very expensive and I didn't have insurance. Maybe it was just dislocated or perhaps stoved. The ER doc explained the process of setting a dislocation. It involved needles into the base of the finger, which I was not thrilled about. The x-rays had not come back yet, so I decided to hope for the best and psych myself up for the massive amounts of pain that I was about to have to go through without the benefit of Novocaine.

Marieke and I were able to contemplate in real time the fate of the universe before the doctor came back with good news and bad news. The bad news was that there was no good news. The humor escaped Marieke and I, but not the good doctor. Apparently I had a vertical fracture which had the potential to become unstable. I was given two splints and sent on my way with a referral to the Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Robert Kaufman, with whom I was to see within 2-3 days.

Just what I wanted on the fifth day of quitting smoking!

Labels: I Quit Smoking , karma , random events

If I were an M&M, my color would be blue and I probably would not have an 'm' stamp. That self-observation has nothing whatever to do with what follows...

Despite the connotations and general knowledge, 'lucky bamboo' is not in fact bamboo. It is a type of corn plant native to Cameroon. It is as Chinese as fortune cookies. Nonetheless, the Chinese populations in western countries have adopted this hearty plant and applied certain aspects of their own culture in the way of feng shui in keeping them in the house.

2 together is for Luck, 3 for Happiness, 4 for Wealth, 5 for Health, 6 for Love & Marriage and 8 for Long Life.

Taking my application for a sort of dream job at Pitt into account, I'm incredibly nervous because the two I had bunched together withered, became yellow and died within the period of time between my application and interview. I salvaged the sprouts and these will probably be a very healthy plant in about 5 months. Does this mean that I have no hope for any luck until then?

While generally speaking, I do not subscribe to such superstition, I have found a certain truth in how these plants affect feng shui.

In a desperate attempt to alleviate the stress of waiting to hear of the fate of my less than stellar interview, I have hastily dumped two of the sprouts into the same container and wrapped them with a rubber band.

While this may seem foolhardy, useless and inconsequential, I find that having these plants arranged thusly improves the general well being of my house.

Just in case, please keep your fingers crossed that I hear back positively about this job.

Labels: bamboo , karma , superstitions