(no subject)

I had yesterday off to do a few things. I brought Rufus to the vet for bloodwork to check on the level of the new medication. It was going to be quick, but an emergency came in. I waited a while. When it became clear to the vet tech that they weren't sure when Rufus would be done, they suggested I leave him there for a while and they'd call. I wrapped him up in a doggie burrito so he couldn't bite and handed him over. As I left, the receptionist noted that she heard Rufus expressing some opinions. "Oh yes," I said, "he has many and strong opinions!"

Waiting for Rufus, I figured I'd do a little work on the radio. Working on the AM side, I assembled the two IF amplifiers, the mixer and oscillator, and the antenna. This solder is fantastic! I was excited to find that it does, in fact, pick up AM radio. It's so cool to see something like that I made actually work, even if I just followed the instructions and only have a rough sense of how it works. But now I can poking it with my scope while looking at directions to understand it better.

As I finished that up, it was nearly time to get ready for my dental appointment. While finishing up with soldering antenna leads, I found out Rufus was done, so I hurried out to get him, came back, got into real clothes instead of sweat pants, and drove to the dentist in Morton Grove.

Four fillings, two crowns, and two root canals will run about $3000 after insurance. The fillings are more expensive than I was expecting because they don't cover composite (I have to pay the difference) and this office doesn't do amalgam. The rest, though, was in line with my expectations of item cost, though I didn't know how much of what I was going to need. Now I know, and I can start progressively addressing it as finances and things make reasonable.

I was feeling worn out when I got home so I had some food and played DoS 2 with Danae until it was time to volunteer at EAS. I walked Blaze, a 50-60 pound Pibble, around the park again. He's a sweet boy, but he's strong enough to yank me around pretty well. He's been good for me lately, but there were an unusual number of food wrappers and things around the area and Blaze *REALLY* wanted to investigate all of them. That kind of wore me out, but when I got home at quarter past nine, I still had to get packed up to visit Erik this evening.

I'm a bit tired this morning, but content with everything I got done.

(no subject)

I forgot; my new glasses arrived yesterday! I was worried that UPS wouldn't leave them without someone to pick them up, but as I got back from the vet the first time, the truck was sitting in front of my building.

Though it's a small prescription change the difference in experience is large; definitely worthwhile. Now I'm working at being really good about only cleaning with a microfiber cloth to preserve the coating and avoid scratches as long as possible.

(no subject)

I think some of why I find the humanities so difficult to deal with and remain sane is that no communication can exist outside of a context, and the context is damned-near always self-contradictory. Objective truth is almost as hard to catch as a unicorn, and once you have it it takes a rare soul to recognize it as such. It makes me think of Peter Beagle's "The Last Unicorn;" a unicorn who was captured and imprisoned in a traveling carnival required an illusory horn on top of her real one for people to see her as something other than a white mare.

Artistic interpretation of objective truth is like that illusory horn. For most people, it seems to help them see and believe. For me, it feels like an unnecessary farce that distracts from a clear and direct understanding.

Society is still important to me. It's so important that I don't even know how to interact with it without mental distress. Electronics is much safer and easier.

(no subject)

I miss my tiny-dog. I was reading my posts from today and thinking of being at the vet with him and how happy he is when he sees me and how much I'd like to snuggle him and watch him squirm against me. He's so cute! Happy thoughts for distressed times.

I won't be seeing Rufus today, but I'll get some time with Erik's dog Fluffy this evening!