All Hail Nikolai

Nikki, you are a freaking genius!! I checked it out and that contest pays $10,000!!! Now, granted I am not gaurunteed to win, but even the mere possibility has gotten me excited, just like the song "I'm so excited". So I shall set to work immediately to get my entry in. The winner isn't picked until Dec 31/07, but I guess that is OK. I'm used to waiting around. But the question remains: what do you propose I submit- my first article or second?? The second is not finished yet. I shall work on it as soon as the alcohol ban is lifted (24 hours post surgery). Or shall I try to merge the two of them?? Or should I write about something else entirely? I will post another half written possibility, entitled Swine and Dine, which chronicles my (brief) love affair last winter. Well, it wasn't a love affair per se. More of just a tiny crush. The possibilities are endless, endless! I say.
Anyways, I guess you must realize by now that I've survived the surgery, in the face of very serious odds against me. I'm just like that watch company. Take a lickin but keep on tickin. The surgery went pretty OK as far as surgeries go. It was funny because after it was all said and done, the nurse said 'you're free to go home now, all you have to do is go to the washroom for me.' Goeff and I looked at each other warily. I knew exactly what Geoff was thinking. "Easy there, old girl. This is where you bit it last time and bought yourself an extra four hours of IV." But I passed the bathroom test with flying colors. Geoff and I had a good chuckle, though. Ah the good old days. The funniest part was when I said to him 'oh, geez, for a second there I thought I was going to pass out or something. But I see I made it back to bed at least" He was like "no you didn't make it back to bed, you collapsed forward onto me, practically taking me down with you. The nurse and I had to drag you into bed." Anyways, but I do go on.
So it seems I'm little miss popularity all of a sudden. First my mom comes by with flowers. I just finished getting those into a vase when another knock on the door disturbs me from admiring them. And guess what: More freaking flowers!! So now my house is a virtual greenhouse (plus remember, I have that one plant by the window?), which should hopefully help to cover up our pet house odor du jour.
Anyways, back to the surgery. It was quite swell because the doctor decided to do my surgery in between cases, which was nice of him, because I was supposed to get done only after the OR slate was clear. But he said by the way it was looking I would have ended up waiting half the night. So he snuck me in at about two thirty ish. He was a very nice doctor, though I've heard bad things about him. He explained to me that studies show that if you take a hundred miscarried fetuses and send them to a genetics lab for tests, about 80 some percent would come back showing a severe genetic or chromosomal anomoly, such as Downs Syndrome. He said that 98% of Downs babies end up being miscarried, generally at a very early stage. So he said, even though this is a very unpleasant thing to go through, it is, in the long run, for the good of the families to not have these pregnancies carried on. Which, I guess, makes me feel a bit better. People always say 'there's a reason for everything' or 'its for the best' and usually these cliche's don't do anything to lessen my grief, but when you start talking 'studies' and 'genetics', then you've got my attention. Then they're not just empty words or dumb cliches.
So I guess that's all I really wanted to say for this day. Except to say that my little hiatus from work is nearing its end, which I am not happy about. I have decided that I shall return to my old job, but focus on my writing much more. I want to complete my book by the end of the summer and work very hard at getting it published. It may just be a pipe dream, but I guess we need to keep those dreams alive no matter what. Its like they say "I work to live, I live to (put your favorite hobby in here, Lorrie, in your case, make tattoos out of moles)." Well, now this is really I wanted to say. For sure this time. So have a nice evening, which I shall because I'm going to Boston Pizza tonight with some very upstanding people. And thanks again Nikolai. I will be sure to purchase you a little something if I win the contest- perhaps a broach or a hamster, I'm thinking.