These are the thoughts of a Texas transplant in West Michigan who makes his living as a newspaper reporter by evening, and a struggling novelist by day.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

snap goes the rubber band

yes, that's a rubber band i'm wearing around my right wrist, if anyone is curious to know. and no i've not forgotten it's there. there's a reason for it being there.

lately, thoughts of work and work life seem to be creeping into my personal life. sometimes the thoughts are verbalized and sometimes it's just ruminations. it's like the broken record, continually skipping and going nowhere. it really bugs me and dawn.

tthis morning the same thing started to happen. i was getting pissed off. it's the freakign weekend, for god's sake. this is MY time away from the office, interviews, articles, centerpieces, meetings, proofing. we'll have none of that at home, please.

so i start harping on something and i'm not really upset or anything, just rattling off stuff. dawn says she has the perfect solution. i didn't know what she was talking about.

she comes into the kitchen and places a rubber band around my right wrist. it came back to me, then. she'd done this before.

dawn read somewhere that the brain begins obsessing about things. it's a constant thought or charge being stimulated. you keep thinking about it. you need some kind of interruption to stop that thought or charge from continuing. so you place a rubber band around a wrist. when you catch yourself obsessing over something, you pull it and snap it. the sting it produces when it strikes your skin interrupts the obsessive thought because another charge is being produced.

and so i've got this rubber band around my right wrist now. it will stay until i stop thinking of all of these stupids, these thoughts that do no good for me and create an unhealthy thought process. in other words, fuck off obsessive thoughts. there is no room for you here. go bug someone else.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

dad update 2

looks like plans changed for my dad. he and my mom went early monday up to houston and arrived for tests and consultations. tuesday he was supposed to have a laproscomy, where they go in with a camera and check it out before determining what to do next.

well, that didn't happen. my sister called tuesday afternoon, minutes after i arrived at work saying that dad was in surgery as of a few minutes before. apparently the doctors decided not to go in with a camera and see what direction to take. they went in, yes, but they found the tumor and removed it, along with a piece of his liver. there was another bit that was showing up as a spot but it turned out to be nothing.

it was sucessful. he was in pain, my sister said. mom was spending the night in another room since he needed to be in a sterile environment after the surgery, make sure there is no infection or anything that would set in.

it looks like they will stay a few days beyond the 10 days he was priginally supposed to have stayed in houston. in a couple of days he will get some embolization, which is something to regenerate the piece of the liver that was removed.

that is all i know at this point. again, i didn't even talk to my mom. so perhaps today i will get a chance to chat with her.

i am happy things went well.