Well, dear readers, let’s get the thus so far, so good out of the way. I had my doctor’s appointment, first physical in over thirty years. I was surprisingly nervous about it. I left at 1:50, just in case of bad traffic and gray skies. I took Laurel Canyon and that was pretty much a breeze all the way down to Wilshire. Wilshire was a breeze. I got there an hour early, so I parked and sat in the car and played on the phone. At three-twenty I went up to the office. Even though I was told check-in was at three-forty, the gal told me I was right on time. So, that was fortuitous. I had to put on a mask and then I sat down and waited. They took me in about five minutes later. First, I had a very nice young gal ask me some questions, she did a cognitive test that was interesting – she gave me three words – banana, sunshine, and chair, then distracted me and made me write the numbers on a drawing of a clock and set the time at eleven-ten. Then she asked me for the words, and I said them to her and since I still remember them, I guess my memory’s fine. Then she took my blood pressure. Perfect, was the result and she said it was amazing for someone of my age. She also said it was amazing that I was on zero medication. Oh, and she weighed me. I’ve been saying I gained fifty pounds during the pandemic and that turned out to be accurate to the pound. I must lose that weight. Then the doctor came in, asked me lots of questions, had me do all the usual breathing in and out things and he said all that was fine. He looked for arm motion, which was good, and for swelling in the ankles – none – so all that was good. Then we talked about the MRI, and I told him absolutely not for the closed MRI – so he’s put in for an open MRI, which Cedars doesn’t do. If that can’t happen, then it’ll be a cat scan. Then another young gal came in to do the blood draw – four little vials – I told her I hated needles and to be gentle, she found a good vein in my left arm, and as we were talking, she said, “You didn’t even feel that, huh?” and she was right – did not even feel the needle at all. Amazing. That took five or six minutes and that was that. I left and headed over to Du-Par’s, taking 3rd Street to Fairfax. Only the traffic was so horrible, I ended up turning left on a side street, going up to Beverly Boulevard, going to Fairfax and turning right. And I found a parking place right across from Du-Par’s.
I went in, got a booth, and ordered a short stack, which now costs a rather crazy fifteen bucks for three pancakes, and I ordered their good mac and cheese with garlic bread. Of course, it all arrived at once. I ate all the edges of the pancakes, and they were so good. I really only ate about one pancake overall. Then I ate a half a piece of garlic bread, took three bites of the mac and cheese and was so full I couldn’t eat anymore. I had them box up the mac and cheese, I paid, and went to Crescent Heights to start the journey home. It was, of course, already dark out. It’s really bad for me to drive at night, save for the Valley and streets that are wide and easy to navigate. When I got to the canyon, I could see nothing was moving, so I took Hollywood Boulevard over to Nichols Canyon, which turned out to be the nightmare drive of all time. The roads are very narrow and twisty in that canyon. Doing the drive during the day is a breeze because I’ve done it many times. It’s not terrible at night, unless you have a vision problem such as mine. Then it’s like insanity itself, because there are literally no lights anywhere. And it was drizzling the entire way. And I had a car on my tail for a lot of the drive. Still, I managed to do everything, just slowly and carefully, but then got to a confusing part and with the jerk on my tail I made the mistake of veering right instead of left. Of course, the jerk went left and was fine. The street I was on I’d been on once before when I accidentally veered right, and there is nowhere where you can turn around. So, I just was railing at the skies but just following the road, which was even twistier than Nichols Canyon, but it finally took me back to Nichols Canyon and from there I was fine. Mulholland also had no lights so I had to be very careful and I already knew I wasn’t going to do my usual twisty road down to Ventura – I simply got back to Laurel Canyon and took that down to Ventura – very fast, and from there I was home in about six minutes. And somewhere between the doctor visit and home, my top porcelain cap in the left side of my mouth, which has been loose for over a year (so is the bottom cap), left my mouth for parts unknown. I’ve been worried about it and it finally happened. So, now I have to find a dentist that’s on my plan and go get a new one and have him glue down the bottom one. It does look like Medicare Advantage will cover the entire cost, which is great. Once I have the new cap, then I’ll discuss the issue with the tooth that’s gone crooked on the bottom and, of course, get a proper cleaning. The problem is finding a good DDS who’s in the United Health Care network. Daunting. We should have the bloodwork results today or tomorrow and they’ll alert me when they’re up on the website.
Prior to that, I got five hours of sleep, was up at eight and out the door by eight-thirty, met up with Robert Yacko at our usual jernt but I couldn’t eat so I just had a Diet Coke. I did a Gelson’s run but didn’t end up buying anything. I also got an email from J2 Spotlight, a company that does staged concerts of musicals. Hmmm. I wonder where they got THAT idea. Well, since I met with the owner twenty years ago and pitched that exact idea to him and he couldn’t be bothered to even ponder it, I guess twenty years on he decided it might be a lark and to do it. They’ve been teasing their three-show season for 2025 for a couple of weeks with clews. Today, the clew was one I had a feeling was coming – don’t know why, really – Drat! The Cat! Their thing is after we’ve closed, but it’s going to impact people who already told us they were going to fly in to see our production. The gentleman who directs their shows, has been also doing the kinds of things we’ve been doing at the Kritzerland shows for the past fourteen YEARS. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore. Then I put gas in the motor car, then came home and relaxed until it was time to leave. Once home, I couldn’t get with a movie, I dozed off, and here we are.
Today, I’ll just take it easy, do whatever needs doing, hope for a positive bloodwork report, check with the mail place to see if any screeners have arrived, eat something light but amusing, make some more research notes, and then at some point watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is, of course, Thanksgiving, and dear reader Jeanne’s driving over the hill and we’re going to a nearby jernt for dinner, just as we did last year, but in her neck o’ the woods. I may or may not be seeing a show on Saturday, and then things get crazy, as we head into the holiday month I like to call December – I see the eye surgeon on Monday and that’s a bit of a drive, but it’s in the morning at least, Tuesday is our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which I’m looking forward to, I also hopefully will get the two important envelopes prior to the first, which is on a Sunday, our second Kritzerland rehearsal is on Friday, stumble-through is on Saturday, and then we do our show on Sunday at two. Should be a nice, big audience from what I’m told. After, Adrienne Stiefel’s hosting a little appetizer thing at some nearby jernt, for her and my birthday, so I’ll go to that briefly, and then I’ll have a nice birthday dinner with just a couple of friends.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, take it easy, do whatever needs doing, hope for a positive bloodwork report, check with the mail place and see what’s what, eat, make more research notes, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that thus far, health-wise, everything is as it should be.