Saturday, November 24, 2007

When It Rains, It Pours: Thanksgiving Edition of RBoC

- On Tuesday, H had her interview with the clinical psychologist. After he finished, he said he was ready to make his diagnosis. He diagnosed it as a "classic" case of ADHD-Inattentive Dominant. We'll now see our pediatrician to discuss meds, then back to the Psych a couple weeks later for parent training (a weird name for what is basically a discussion of we - as a family unit - can help H be successful at home).

- My brother, who's 26, broke his nose for the second time earlier this week.

- This same brother found 2 testicular lumps, and the person in charge of reading the results of the ultrasound isn't back in the office until next week. (Note: my brother is currently in vet school on an island in the Caribbean, which isn't really the first place I think of when I imagine top-notch medical care).

- After waking from a 6-hour recuperative nap yesterday, my mom watched E while hubby and I went to dinner and a movie (No Country for Old Men...very good, very McCarthy, very much not the kind of narrative the people in Home State can get, much less appreciate).

- I've single-handedly gotten my mother (who previously rarely ever drank any kind of alcohol) hooked on this fabulous aperitif wine I had last weekend when hubby and I went out to celebrate our anniversary. On Thanksgiving Day, she had at least 3-4 glasses!!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

By Request: The Superglue Story

By request of mgm (in a comment on my 7 things post), here's the infamous superglue story.

When I was 11, I was trying to open a tube of superglue - you know the kind with the plastic screw-off tip - while sitting in the living room recliner. I couldn't get the tip off with my hands, so I went to Plan B: using my teeth. Just as I was gripping the tip between my back teeth, my brother came around the corner, from behind the chair, and knocked into my elbow, thereby shoving the tube across my canine teeth. My canine teeth are somewhat pointy, so they easily pierced the tube of superglue, as it gushed through my mouth and the back of my throat---ugh!

I don't know whether it was the texture, the taste, or the mere knowledge of what was oozing around in my mouth, but my immediate reaction was to start gagging. It turns out that gagging is quite difficult when one's teeth are GLUED SHUT! My grandma was watching my brother and I at the time, so she called 911 and my mother, who rushed home and took me to the ER.

Alas, I lived. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Seven Weird Things Meme

My thanks to mom at Outside the (Toy)Box for tagging me for this meme, thereby getting my blogging arse back in gear:

1. I have a freakish aversion to hearing any sort of food chewing. That is, not only can I not stand what I've always known as "smacking" - talking with ones mouth open - but I literally cannot stand to be in a room when I can hear someone chewing, crunching especially. I have to walk out of the room. Even when it's my husband, and he's eating cereal for breakfast...I just have to go somewhere else. The worst: I can't stand to be heard chewing either. If I think someone can hear me, I'll usually just not eat or wait until I can be in a room alone.

2. I'm 6'2", which is kinda weird in its own right, but even more unusual is that when I was playing basketball in high school, I was still a really fast runner. As in, I could run the 100-yd. dash in the same time as the fastest girl in the school (who was like 5'3" and so quick that her nickname was Bunny).

3. I have been to the emergency room several times for the same recurring problem: having things in my mouth that don't belong there (yes, I know how that sounds). Things like rat poison (when I was 5-ish), a piece of a live Christmas tree (when I was 8-ish), and super glue (when I was 11-ish). Yes, I swallowed super glue, and with teeth glued shut, simultaneously fought back the vomit that was trying to come up in my throat! A lovely image for you, I'm sure!

4. Ever since forever, I have the most memorable dreams. Whether they're good or bad, or just plain weird (which is usually the case), I remember things vividly: color of carpet, what people were wearing, word-for-word conversations, etc. There's even been one instance of a dream about a place that had closed down before I was born. Somehow, I dreamed about the interior of a hotel in my hometown - describing its curtains, seat arrangement, paint color, entry doors, everything - but my mom told me that I couldn't have dreamed it because the hotel closed before I was born.

5. I've kissed a girl. With tongue. And I wasn't drunk or tricked into it or anything. It was...not like kissing a guy, and oddly enough, I missed the facial hair.

6. Despite being what many would consider a radical feminist - I'd identify as pro-sex, pro-choice, etc. - I've had plastic surgery. It was one of the best decisions of my life, and my only regret was that I didn't do it sooner.

7. These are multiples, but they're all in the same category of concert/quasi-brush-with-fame things: I've touched Garth Brooks's inner thigh (a long story); I've gotten a guitar pick from Ted Nugent; my uncle was in the movie Top Gun; when I was a junior, I set a record for most points scored in a single basketball game, and the local radio station and newspaper ran stories on me.

Now, I tag whoever has the time to complete this meme and has some really weird, random stuff that I've never heard about!!

Monday, November 05, 2007

Here's a New One: A Screw In My Shoulder

Okay, seriously, we've all heard some pretty bad excuses from students about why they couldn't be in class, why they didn't turn their work in on time, or why they must absolutely be given one more chance to do a major project correctly.

But, what - I say what the hell - does one say to the student who, after missing class today, e-mails a short message to indicate that the attached picture [yes, there was indeed an attached picture of an x-ray photo with what appeared to be a nail in someone's shoulder] is the reason why ze missed class?
And further,

- that ze has no idea how it got there (must have been one helluva night)
- ze has already been "opened up" by a doctor today, but the doctor couldn't remove it
- another surgery has been scheduled, which might put ze out for a few days, but ze is bound and determined to come to Wednesday's class no matter how ze feels

I mean, really...WTF? I'm tempted to just say, "Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Make sure to get a doctor's note for that." because this student has already missed over a week of class and has performed miserably throughout the semester. Why this person is even still hanging around, I'm not sure...

So I ask, what would you say???

Random Notes and Catching Up

Last week was a bit of a blur as I conferenced yet again with H's teachers, re-read the novel I'm teaching (Roxana), evaluated about 20 rough drafts, prepared for and followed through with the obligatory Halloween festivities, and spent lots of extra time helping H with various homework-related tasks. For about four straight nights, I didn't go to bed before 1:00 a.m. --- this is in contrast to my usual 10:00 p.m. bedtime. What little time I had in between all of this was spent trying desperately to finish the draft of my first full dissertation chapter. So, by the time the weekend arrived, I was ready for some much needed vegetation (as in I was the vegetable). Thus, here are some random notes to catch things up:

- H's teachers were happy to report that they've been noticing some improvement already. She came home with almost all Bs on her homework grades last week, and she made an A on her continents & oceans test! Whether this is due to them moving her seat to avoid distractions, calling on her more frequently, or something H is now doing to stay more focused, I don't know. But, we've made several changes at home in our homework time protocol, and they've made an obvious difference.

- I've read quite a bit of Understanding Girls with ADHD, one of the few books on the disorder that focuses on girls and the inattentive type symptoms that H has. Let's just say that if I was upset, guilty, and sad before reading this, I can now add mad as hell to the list of emotions! Almost everything we know about ADHD is based on boys. That is, the symptoms, the diagnostic indicators, and even the forms given to teachers to fill out when they make referrals, are all based on the stereotypical hyperactive-dominant form that's most often associated with boys. In ways that seriously affect almost every aspect of their lives, from before diagnosis (if they ever get one) into adulthood, girls with ADHD face a dramatically different experience from teachers, some parents, and their peers. I could go on forever, but I'll stop by simply saying that more attention has to be paid to this issue NOW!

- Halloween was a hit...Lots of candy, cute kids in costumes, and everyone was still in bed on time :)

- I can happily report that my very first full dissertation chapter will, indeed, be finished this week! WOOHOO!! It's only a draft, but that baby will be done! I'm only a mere 4-5 pages away.....I can taste it.

- We meet with the clinical psychologist on Thursday. I've filled out all the paperwork, which included an 18-page health history form for H, and I'm anxious to hear what the "expert" has to say.

Now, those mere 4-5 pages call, so I return to them. More to come after the doctor's appointment Thursday.