Saturday 9

Live Like You Were Dying (2003)

Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.
 
1) This song is about a man whose father advises him to live life to the fullest, to become "the friend you'd like to have." How about you? Are you the friend you'd like to have? Yes. I am a good friend.

2) The song lists several "bucket list" items: skydiving, mountain climbing, riding a bull. Have you done any of those things? Would you like to? I would like to try skydiving. I think it might help me conquer my fear of flying.

3) In the music video, Tim McGraw is wearing a white button-down shirt, blue jeans and a cowboy hat. Which of those items is in your wardrobe? Jeans, jeans and more jeans.

4) He wears a cowboy hat because he is embarrassed by the size of his forehead. When you wear a hat, are you more likely doing it for style, like Tim, or for protection from the elements? I'm not much of a hatwearer. I'll wear a hood or earmuffs when the weather demands.

5) McGraw's biological father was Tug McGraw, pitcher for the Mets and Phillies. How did your baseball team do this season? Oh, my Cubs! They collapsed in September and the city is abuzz with who will be traded during the off season. We've already bid adieu to our fantastic manager, Joe Maddon, the man who led us to the World Series in 2016. The tension is unbearable, because I really love the core of this team and saying goodbye to any of these players will be wrenching. 

Hot rumor: KB won't be in Cubbie blue next year. BOO!

6) Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill live just outside of Nashville. They enjoy inviting friends over to sit around a bonfire, drinking beer and playing guitars. Tell us about the most recent gettogether you had with friends. I don't tend to do big parties. I like one-on-ones with my friends. Recently, I caught up with Will, the moderator of our classic film group, before we attended the Noir City Film Festival together. It was nice because he and I are usually together in a group. It was interesting to get to know one another better, after knowing one another for more than five years.

7) Tim likes his tattoos. He admits his silliest one -- a leprechaun wearing a cowboy hat -- was acquired during a night of drinking. Do you have a tattoo? If so, are you glad you have it and would you get it again? No tattoos.

8) In 2003, when this song was popular, the supersonic

Concord took its last flight. When did you most recently board a plane? What was your destination? LAX-ORD. I was coming home from the TCM Film Festival. It was grand!


9) Random question: When did you last walk around the house naked? Just now. I sprayed moisturizer on my back and shoulders and didn't want it to rub off on my clothes.

That was a nothingburger

My GP retired in August. This made me very sad, because I trusted her implicitly. I can't say I was surprised, though. I knew she was by now 65 or perhaps a little older, and I knew she was tiring of her the drama and politics surrounding how the practice was being run. Once day, back in 2016, she said, "I think I'd work forever if only they'd play nice."

So I was faced with a dilemma: do I go with the new, in-practice doctor recommended for me, or do I doctor shop? I decided to stay in-practice because the new doctor would (theoretically) have access to more than 20 years of my medical history.

Of course, any benefit from staying would depend on the new doctor reviewing my history.  Which he clearly had not before our first meeting in late August.

I was there to get prescriptions refilled and, naturally enough, he wanted to see me before got out his pad. It was obvious during that first visit he had no notion of my history. When he asked for me dates when I had this or that test or vaccine, I'd say, "Isn't it in there?" Likewise when he wanted to know what dosage of these meds I'd been prescribed. I was frustrated.

Also, he referred me to an allergist and a urologist for my allergies and kidney stone. Really? What does my new GP do, just act as traffic cop, referring me to specialists?

I realize that I resist change. I thought maybe I was so pissed at him because he wasn't Dr. Mary, whom he never could be, and that maybe I should give him a second chance.

So, when I began getting robocalls saying that I needed a follow up visit to discuss my test results -- turns out my A1c is 6, which indicated pre-diabetes -- I went back. After all, I need a flu shot.

What a nothingburger! He did give me a breast exam and a flu shot, but he was notably more chill and less condescending. (At our first meeting, he asked me if knew I had varicose veins. Gee, no I didn't. I'm never naked and don't own a mirror.)

He's not convinced my high blood sugar is due to diet, since my cholesterol is better than it's been in years. He think it could be my decidedly sedentary lifestyle and wants me to move more and then we'll check it on six months.

His only dick moment came when, in a discussion of exercise, I mentioned* my chiropractor had recently given me the go-ahead to resume exercise. Oh? Did this chiropractor take any x-rays? Did this chiropractor read the x-ray himself? Hmmmm .... it would be helpful if the chiropractor sent the x-ray to my doctor's office. Oh, I get it, Mr. MD. You're just better than my chiropractor. Um ... no you're not. And besides, even if my chiropractor sent the x-ray over, I have no faith this doctor would even look at it.

OK! I admit I miss Dr. Mary soooooo much!

 
*This was already in my chart, too, you know!

October Challenge -- Day 12

I'm joining Ms. Kwiz for her October blogging challenge.

Day 12: Words to describe me. Cat mom, aunt, friend, writer, citizen, Christian ... I answer to them all.