And then the mob said, "Turn your head and cough."

Yesterday I needed to go to the doctor. The only person available was the doctor's assistant, but he can prescribe drugs too, so what the heck.

When he entered the exam room, I thought perhaps I'd accidentally driven to urgent care on the Jersey Shore. He had one sort of droopy eye like he'd been punched in the face during one too many bar fights, and he kept saying shit. "I'll give you some of this shit and you'll feel all better. Shit." It's cool, I guess. Maybe the mob has infiltrated the medical industry.

Then, for dinner, we decided to try this new taco place. It's new but they'd sent out coupons in the mail, so what was there to lose?

We walked in and ordered and the guy's like, "Sure! Fuggidaboutit! I'll make you an offer you can't refuse," and gave us a bunch of free stuff. Then he started speaking Spanish with the grill guy in an Italian accent. At that point, we were pretty sure our burritos were going to suck, but that's beside the point. Has our economic slump trickled down to include organized crime? Will Bugsy Siegle show up to clean my carpet? I won't let him park out front for fear of car bombs.

Bloody Ears: Like Life

I'm in a reflective, existential mood, tonight. But what else is new?

In the shower, I debate whether to rinse out my ears with the plastic bulb. (See my last post.) When I do, some blood flakes out the next morning. If I don't, nothing. Is the rinsing causing the blood? Is not rinsing letting the problem accumulate there? This isn't about ears anymore, is it?

It's harder to view things like this in Las Vegas than in some other, more ruminating place, somewhere where the leaves change, somewhere like the middle of Nebraska.

I have a student who's obsessed with medicine; he wants to be a physician. Today, during recess, he asks me about old epidemics: "What's cholera? Smallpox? How did HIV begin?"

"I don't know," I say. "Someone was probably too curious about science. So curious, he found himself up to his elbows in monkey blood. Dead a few years later."