Stuff:

I'm lazin about and thought I should write some.
I had a highly efficient week last week and so I find myself with a few hours of glorious unscheduled Afternoon. A rarity.
The light is coming in the windows of my room at a perfect slant. I love the light.
So...what shall I tell you about?
Last night I hosted trivia at my local bar.
I had to host because the dynamic duo, "Team Carne Asada French Fries" (which consisted of Nate and I) won last week. So the winner must take the torch. It was fun and I realized what a strange brew I have at that bar. Most of them are in their mid to late twenties, under achievers, but sinfully smart and overly educated....most of them alcoholics...but still they've become an odd sense of comfort here in stupid Vegas They're good people. Think Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites.

2 weeks ago I got to watch a "non-invasive brain surgery".Talk about an oxymoron. The procedure is called a Cerebral Coiling. The surgeon takes a long catheter (basically a long thin straw) and threads it from a small incision in the groin all the way to the center of the brain. Right to the center of this lady's brain. She had an aneurysm, which is essentially a pool of blood where there shouldn't be. This is a problem because if the clot begins to travel it could kill you. Interestingly though, the surgeon explained to me that we couldn't evacuate the clot either or she would've hemorrhaged because of it's size and position in the brain. So instead, they inserted 4 little platinum coils into this woman's brain. This would cause it to clot off around the coils completely creating a non-movable ball of metal and dried blood and then they block any new blood supply from getting to the aneurysm. I find this soo interesting because it is a cure found in a sickness. A purposeful clot. A functioning imperfection. Slightly poetic.

As amazing as being part of the whole procedure was, possibly the most stunning part of the whole thing was the conversation I had with the patient, as I inserted her Foley catheter (for pee) right before the anesthesiologist put her under. I was trying to calm her down by sitting with her as the team finished prepping. She was rambling, as nervous people often do. All of the sudden I hear her in the middle of a huge rationalization as to why she hasn't quit smoking. Smoking, in her case, could have killed her instantly (and is probably the very reason she formed the aneurysm in the first place).
"I don't think the doctors know how hard it is to quit.", she says, in an angry and entitled voice.
"But you're having BRAIN surgery, Ma'am.", I say dumbfoundedly. (I'll admit, not my most compassionate moment), but I made the surgeon laugh.
Ahhh....the power of human denial.
And yet...once every few months I find myself with a bummed cigarette in hand...ahhh the power of Rosie Denial.

Also, a used bookstore just opened right by my Trader Joes. It's called "The Amber Unicorn" A little slice of heaven, folks.