Wonder if I was erudite...

Gastroenterologist: "We've met before."

Me: "No, not really. You did my colonoscopy, but we didn't talk about it."

Gastroenterologist: "Yes, we did. Both. The anæsthetic we used? It's an amnesic...and it has been known to cause retrograde amnesia."

Me: "That must be when I forgot how to play the piano."

[Uncomfortable pause.]

Gastroenterologist: "Did you really-"

Me: "No. I couldn't help that."

Ayup

Via Reddit.

P.S., yay France

Bravo for legalizing same-sex marriage...and also making gay adoption legal at the same time.

I filled out a "new patient" form today...

...at the gastroenterologist's office (see earlier post for wise-assery), and it was the first time I've filled out a medical form since my hospital stay in February, pre-Boskone. There was a series of ticky boxes, where you ticky yes or no:

No, nobody in my family died of colon cancer.

No, I haven't had a heart attack, lost a kidney, had a brain ailment (Stop that. They did not enquire about *that* sort of brain ailment).

How much (alcohol) do I drink a week? My alcohol consumption can't be measured by week...more like by month. I had to write "0." (I had about 3-4 T. several weeks ago, when we stopped at a meadery on our way back from Vermont.)

Was I a smoker?

For the first time in many years, I checked "no."

It's been ~10 weeks...there is one of the last-stage patches on my right arm...and it is still rather strange.

Can't say that there have been nicotine cravings as such. My brother, who quit a couple of years ago, said that when one went from the "stage 1" to "stage 2" patches (cutting the nicotine delivered in half), one got kind of cranky and pissy. I didn't, actually. (That happened two weeks ago.) The only difference was that the patch itself was smaller.

Today, I switched to the "stage 3" patches, which mean two weeks and no more nicotine at all. This stage is also not troubling, so it's probably not going to bother me to ditch the patches entirely in another 13 days.

One of my students asked, "How hard is it?" And that's an interesting question. ( Here are my observations... )

"The American Gerbil Society Is a Thing, And They’re Hosting a Gerbil Pageant"

*sigh*

Gerbil exploitation. Bedford, Mass.

This year’s show features a banquet and competitive judging sessions, where the animals will be rated based on certain criteria.

*gimlet eye* What do people *eat* at this banquet, heyla?

Farking brilliant

Boston, Massachusetts as a fine, fine anagram: CHUMS TOSS TEA AT SNOBS.

Via Reddit: /r/boston.

Well, we've got some good news...and some bad news...

North Korea's official news organization is reporting that the country plans to attack Colorado Springs. Bad news.

But they don't appear to know where Colorado Springs is located. Good news.

Urm...but they appear to think it's located where um, Dallas is really located. Bad news.

(But there is no firm evidence that they could deliver a nuclear payload to Colorado Springs Dallas, anyway. Probably good news.)