Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Al should really have his own blog, as should my dad, but since neither of those blogs will EVER exist, I must rely on shamelessly quoting them on my blog. After seeing my plug for Critter Cuisine yesterday, I received this caution from Al:

Dear Abby,

Congratulations on the Dr. achievement.  They’s a batch of [AbbyFamily]Docs around this country. Please stay down here and don’t, for Buddha’s sake, don’t go to that horrible B-word city. Ain’t no hookworm, no pellagra, precious little beri-beri up there…just frozen sidewalks and icy stares.  You could grow to love North Georgia and even find things to keep you busy. Now , the pay won’t be that great but you could worry your parents. What more can a daughter want than to worry her parents? Best to you and thanks for the Critter connection.

Al

Me to Al: 

Hee hee. You crack me up.

Now I realize I’ve completely missed out. What are: hookworm, pellagra, and beri-beri? I’m afraid that somehow, by accident, my parents may have raised a Yankee! OK, not really, but I think I can make it up there just fine. It may be harder to find collards, but I always manage somehow!

Abby

PS – You can’t be that funny if you expect me not to blog about it!

Al to Me:

Hookworm is an intestinal parasite that is usually associated with eating pork that has been infected with the parasite and not cooked long enough to kill the aforementioned parasite. Po’ folks from down here had lots of  hookworm.  When yo’daddy was working at Memphis hospitals he probably did lots of stool specimen tests for hookworm.  As a matter of fact, [he] could probably write extensively about hookworm. Folks who are infected look gaunt, skinny, hollow eyed, no energy. Pellagra is a dietary deficiency disorder.  Not enough B vitamins and a terrible diet produces this. Beri-beri is another B vitamin shortage malfunction. People from ‘up yonder’ rarely, if ever, have these dietary deficiencies since they made so much money stealing from poor folks from ‘down here’. During the War of Southern Rebellion, the invading Northerners killed our hogs, chickens, and other livestock, took our money and left us in financial ruin. Please don’t go ‘up there’.  You won’t stand a dog’s chance of surviving such meanness.

Yrs in Christ.

Al

You probably don’t understand what Al’s on about. That’s Al. He takes a little learning, but it’s completely worth the effort. Maybe if I’m lucky, he’ll send some proper intestinal parasites to me in Boston so at least I can feel like I’m in touch with my roots.

My point? Buy Critter Cuisine.

Oh fudge. Gotta go to work again. I HATE that. It’s like every damn day! 

OK. American Idol is ending, which is probably best, as I waste WAY too much time watching it, but even MORE fun… I just saw a commercial for "The Next Food Network Star." It’s 8 chefs competing for a show on Food Network (duh!), and it relies on audience participation like. Very fun! I’m so watching that.

Gulp. Puke! Nausea. Anxiety. Blech. Ugh!

I will not win this game today. I worked from 9 to 7:30 with a 45-minute break in the middle for a little lunch with Aaron. My new rotation is a little overwhelming, but they keep me very busy, which I like a lot. It’s so much easier to work hard when there’s lots to do and when I’m in one building all day. It’s so different from being in the schools. I meet for the very last time with my two main counseling cases in the high schools. I’ll miss ’em. It’s been a long road. I doubt there will be tearful goodbyes, but I leave hoping I’ve made some difference in their young lives.

After meeting with those two kids, I will come back home and start packing for my trip back to Bloomington, the closest place to home I have, really. It’s weird. Atlanta is really my home, but my parents aren’t there anymore, so it doesn’t really feel like home. Bloomington was a place where I lived the 7 years before coming here last August. I really did a lot of growing up there. It’s where my ex and I began our married lives. It’s where we adopted Jeep and Maggie. It’s where I discovered my profession. I was living there when my marriage ended, when I learned how to live alone, where I learned how to be a School Psychologist, and where I learned how to be a college teacher. Bloomington is where I learned Yoga and a million other hobbies. It’s where I really came into my own as a cook.

I’m so happy to go back, to see my friends that are still there. The defense is really the last thing on my mind, but it’s also the first. It’s a source of anxiety, but I’m not doing much about it. There just isn’t that much to do. On Wednesday, I’ll sit my ass down to read through all 139 pages and to try and remember what it was I was trying to find out. I’ll go into a room with four white learned men and tell them all about my study and what worked and what didn’t, and I’ll hope the conversation goes off on to some lovely tangent, like my chair’s new twins that will by then be 6 days old… but alas, I’m sure that will not be what happens. It’ll be all business, and hopefully, Wednesday will be enough time to remember what I was up to for all that time!

Clarksdale was a nice break. I wish there was time for recovery afterwards. I have elected to not go through graduation ceremonies. Honestly, it isn’t all that important to me. I may walk in December, but I may not. I may just throw myself one hell of a party after internship ends. I don’t even know where I’d have it. Last year, so many of my friends graduated. There were little envelopes handed around. There were relatives everywhere. Grads posed for pictures. I don’t know. It all seemed a little silly. It didn’t feel like it related to the preparation involved. OK, so I work my ass off for 7 years, live in virtual poverty, racking up $100K+ in loans, so that I can satisfy my goal of having a satisfying and meaningful career. In return, I get to wear a little outfit and eat crudites with old relatives? Hmm… I’ll pass. I’ll just take the meaningful career! Oh, and maybe one of those little envelopes.

I haven’t completely ruled out a December graduation, but honestly, it seems like a lot of expense channeled in the wrong direction.

My eyes are killing me. My allergies have been sooooo bad lately. With me, it’s all about the itchy eyes and fuzzy head. I don’t usually get a stuffy nose, which is good, I guess. Still, the eye thing is so annoying. It’s nearly impossible not to rub them.

At the bookstore this weekend, I picked up a book about skincare and dermatology and looked up "dark undereye circles." I’ve assumed all year that they were related to lack of sleep, but hell, I haven’t been sleeping enough for a while now, and the circles just popped up last summer. Apparently, the main cause of dark undereye circles is allergies, which completely makes sense. The rubbing breaks blood vessels and basically, you end up giving yourself a slow black eye… at least that was Aaron’s take on it. I think he might be right. My eyes aren’t puffy, and there aren’t bags. Just dark ugliness. I hate it. I want them to go away, but I’m already taking Zyrtec. I don’t know what else to try. It’s pissing me off!

Itchy yet unattractive!