Writing in the Corner

I took the day off today so I could have minor laser surgery on my gums. I had nitrous during the procedure, and they numbed me up really good, and honestly, I couldn’t feel a thing. About forty-five minutes ago I took a pain med with Demerol and Fenergen, and I’m starting to feel pretty woozy.

I had some pockets between the bone and the gums in the back of my mouth on the upper left hand side. The periodontist use a laser to “reshape” the gums; excising some of the tissue, I guess, so the pocket would go away and I can floss and clean better and stop any further bone erosion. It occurred to me that it would be really nice if the same one-hour outpatient “reshaping” could be done to my gut.

In the last forty-five minutes I have written several comments on The Cultural Hall the new group blog about Mormon stuff I’m doing with John Dehlin and some other people I can’t remember right now. Wow, the pain meds must be kicking in better than I thought. I wonder if those comments were coherent?

Pete Dunn, new commenter - who are you? I have read your blog, you link whore, and figure I know you from the DAMU, but I am terrible at connecting aliases with people. So if I know you from NOM or FLAK, PM me there. And nice to meet you. You have a way more interesting life than I do.

Perhaps I should take the periodontist’s advice and be horizontal for a little while. It seems a shame to waste such a good buzz on sleeping, though.

I am thankful for my friends. In spite of the fact that I have become something of an introvert over the last few years, I think I have a lot of friends.

After Hurricane Katrina, my blog and e-mail just exploded with people wanting to know how I was. A wonderful essay on NPR compared it to getting to peek at your funeral, and seeing who would come. Sometimes the people you think will be there, aren’t. Sometimes, the people who come surprise you.

I have friends of all sorts. I have friends who are tons of fun to hang out with. I have friends who I may not hear from often, but who think of me often enough, and kindly. But the friend that I am most thankful for is the friend who told me something hard, because she wanted to help.

Back when I was going through my really angry phase with the Mormons, I wrote fairly regularly on the Usenet discussion group soc.religion.mormon. My husband is a regular reader and very infrequent writer in the same place. Every once in a while, my cynical, snotty side would come out in something that I wrote. My friend sent me an e-mail after several months of this. She posed a question: “I wonder how it makes your DH feel, reading the harsh things the woman he loves has to say about the church he loves.”

At first, I was taken aback. And then, I was a little pissed off. And then, I was embarrassed. And then, I cried.

I don’t think I ever said anything to my DH about the letter. I just stopped. Because I knew exactly how he felt. He felt hurt. It wasn’t important to say what I was saying. It was important not to hurt my husband.

My friend did not write what she said because she wanted to upset me, or because she thought she knew better than me. She just wanted me to look at what I was doing and think about it. She told me a hard thing, and it made things better.

Two days is really not enough time to recover from working for five. All you people out there pulling six day, sixty hour weeks, please refrain from a fake pity party.

Between GED programming on Saturday, the fun fair at Little Boy’s school Saturday evening, and then church stuff and helping a friend with her computer Sunday night, I didn’t get a lot of “me” time - time to just veg out and not do anything. I didn’t get much housework done either.

Speaking of Little Boy: He is now seven. Seven. I wonder how that happened? He was just born; I remember it very clearly. However, somehow he has arrived at Seven, and he gets miffed when I call him my Little Boy. As a result, Little Boy will no longer do as his blog name.

I’ve think I like The Kid. It’s age appropriate, and has a vague cowboy feel to it that I like.

So, The Kid it is.

I will be working, but it will be for Extra money. And I don’t have to start by 8:30, and I don’t have to get in 40 hours.

I am so fried. I was on the phone for about five hours today.

I want to be someplace very, very quiet tonight.

Yesterday I mentioned someplace else that after today, Americans could go back to worrying about the important stuff, like if Brittany and Kevin are going to make it.

But lo, what do I find today on GFY…Brittany has filed for a divorce.

Here’s the article, written in the first person. Doesn’t she look terrific? I am not a fan, but hey, maybe now that she’s dumping Skeezix (shudder) she’ll be able to build herself a life and a career. Here’s hoping for a shiny, happy future for the local girl.

Election returns are coming in, and it looks like the main blogger’s predictions at the Other Place (see link above) are coming true. A razor thin margin of victory for the Republicans means - Republicans are still in charge and run the committees. Maybe, just maybe, the two independents in the Senate will throw in with the Dems and that will be enough. But I doubt it.

But really, now that Brittany is getting divorced, I’m sure everything is going to be just fine.