my hands have been soreish lately, hence the long lack of updates.



Life has been quite good, within the wide parameters of david-ness. my apartment is so graceful and pleasant I rarely want to leave, which isn't helped by the large new HDTV I just purchased. Nature shows have never been so yummy. NOVA is amazing.



I've been re-connecting with old friends that I had neglected for a long time. Spending time on the phone. Meeting new people, albeit slowly (getting over my pointless self-defeating shyness is one of the big goals in my life). Dancing, of course.



Been taking more troad trips, late at night, going odd places. Trouble is, I always want to come home because I've made it so comfy there! I'll have to work on that. I really want to go normal (non-party) camping; it's been too long. But I think I will have to settle for skiing. Speaking of, I've committed to go to Vail and Loveland in February with Mom. Loveland has a lift that goes over 12,000' now.. hopefully that will be enough to kep mom and I civil :-)



Tomorrow is election day. Every two years I hope, and am crushed. It looks like I may not be crushed and despondent this time. I surely hope so!



3 little things:



1) One of my toes is a runt. My left middle toe is much smaller than its right-side counterpart! I've lived all these years and I've never noticed. This is pretty exciting.



2) I like my post-smoking improved sense of smell, but sometimes it's a little too good. There are just a lot of things I'm smelling now I was blissfully unaware of before.



3) I want a new tattoo. It's important to mark the seasons of life.

For some reason, I've been going through my receipts from 2005. It's not a lovely experience. Almost entirely because of events in the second half of the year.



Emblematic is a receipt for Epsom salts on August 14. It's the only item on the receipt. This would be two weeks to the day after the first time I ruptured my appendix, and one week before I went into the hospital. The second week was marked by severe leg pain- hence the epsom salts. Little did I realize how feeble a gesture it was- the pain was caused by bacteria eating away my psoas muscle. A week later I could only take 3 inch footsteps. The doctors wouldn't call my prognosis anything but 'guarded' for a week after that.



Or the two receipts from  my doctor, dated 8/17 and 8/22. He failed so utterly, and messed me up so much. On 8/17 he postulated my symptoms might be flu, Lyme disease, "a bug that's been going around", and so on, anything but appendicitis, despite its textbook presentation. Immediately after the 8/22 visit I was checked right into the hospital as level 5 - highest urgency.



Or the receipt for the Ted Baker jacket I bought myself for surviving. Surviving that made me feel like Superman.



Or the big receipts from Jubilex's near death experience about a week after I was released from the hospital. While I had been sick, he had gone on hunger strike, gone into kidney failure, and dropped to 3.5 lbs. A bunch of money, hydration, and special food rehabilitated him, but for a couple weeks I was faced with the seeming likelihood of my cat dying right after I almost did. Miraculously he is still around, yay!



A receipt for a bit of a halloween costume- I had gotten sufficiently better by halloween that I went out and had a great time dancing. Thank goodness.



A receipt for the ipod speakers I bought on Nov 22. I purchased it because my stomach hurt in a way I now knew; my appendix had ruptured again, against a lot of odds. I knew the drill this time; I wanted this second hospital visit to have better music, especially as I suspected this time they'd be able to operate. So I bought speakers on my way to the hospital.



So many receipts for doctors, painkillers, anti-nausea meds, and Campbell's soup in the early days of December, as I return home and hurt and hurt.



What a dark year. 2005 can kiss my ass. I'm glad it's long over, like no other year of my life. I have to extend huge thanks to all those who took care of me for those months and months: primarily Sonia (for everything, but most super-especially the awesome bday party), my mom (sort of), Chaya for phone support, my other friends for visitation and floral support. It meant a huge amount to me.



What a difference a year makes.