Better Living Through Plastic Explosives

 This is the title of a really good book I was sent to review soon after I started my blog (I think it was soon after, who the hell knows, time's lost all meaning), and also how I was feeling this morning while trying to do a "The Future Is Now!" zoom medical call with my dad and his nephrologist (he has idiopathic kidney disease which has been stable for quite a while but needs regular monitoring). I've taken him to the hospital for appointments a few times, and then last time was our first Zoom appointment, made possible presumably because of Covid. Last time went okay, which was a pleasant surprise. This time did not, which was less pleasant, still not that much of a surprise.

My dad came over (their wifi is crap on the main floor so we do it here in the kitchen). They told him to log on a half hour early, for no damned reason I could see, although the nurse did come on at around the correct appointment time. She asked some questions then said the doctor should come on soon. We waited. And waited. And waited. And then we got a message saying 'this meeting has been ended and a new meeting started on this account.' We rejoined, and nothing happened. I tried to call the hospital and the doctor's clinic, and of course there was only the option to leave a message. No one called us. 

Looking back, I was disproportionately angry. My dad's bloodwork was about the same, so it was unlikely the news was going to be bad or surprising. We still hadn't had to drive to the hospital. I was cutting out pictures for my Christmas cards and my dad was looking at them, and that was nice. But it was medical, so I had anxiety, AND it was technology, so I had anxiety, and I felt like I should have been able to fix it, so I was upset with myself (and a little bit with my husband for being in freaking Baltimore, unreasonably). 

My dad finally left. I tried the doctor's clinic one more time and someone answered. I was angrier than I have ever been with a front-facing person, which is to say still not very, but definitely not my usual sweet and self-effacing....self. At first she thought I was mad because of the wait time and said "well sometimes the previous appointment takes longer than expected..." and I was like no Queen, we would have waited all day, but shit didn't work and when it was obvious shit wouldn't work why wouldn't someone call us? And she agreed that was weird, and said she'd try to get the doctor to call my dad. 

So I called my dad and told him that and then went to take a shower to try to shake the yuck. I got in the shower and the phone rang and I got out of the shower and got water all over my bedroom to answer the phone. My dad said the doctor called and everything was fine, and it was the doctor's fault the zoom didn't work and he apologized. So I downgraded from enraged to faintly annoyed.

So I finished showering and then called the clinic back and left a message apologizing for being bitchy. And the receptionist called back a while later while I was baking Chai shortbread (without the sugar, as it turned out, oops) and said oh lord, that was nothing, you have no idea. And after that even the annoyance was gone, and I didn't even swear when I realized my cookies were suitable for diabetics (can't decide if I should offer them on Facebook to someone with a low-sugar diet or just be aggressive with icing).

For the rest of the day I alternated baking batches of shortbread with writing my last Christmas cards (the first of my last Christmas cards, if I'm being scrupulously honest, but these are mostly for people who live closer). 

I did a whirlwind trip to southern Ontario to deliver an exam care package to Eve, who has two weeks of stupid exams before she can come home, and then visit my friend Zarah for Christmas shopping and hanging out and puzzling while slightly high. The drive down started in winter wonderland and ended in extremely sloppy not-great-visibility conditions. When I got out of the Rav and Eve came out and saw it we both burst out laughing, and did again every time we came out of a place and saw it again - after a pause, because it was basically unrecognizable.

I got a couple of pictures of Eve, one of the Rav, a couple of Zarah and about two dozen of the cat.

Yesterday Zarah tested positive for Covid so it will suck if I go down but it was worth it, and I had a great work day and felt really good yesterday. The best interaction was probably with one grade two student who said she couldn't remember my name, and when I told it to her she sighed and said "okay. But you look more like a Valerie."