Doctor Day

So, I figured it was time to get on with getting my health in better shape, especially after the constant misery last week of having a lot of activites available to me and not being allowed to participate.

I got to do all sorts of fun stuff at the voice doctor today. I did a hearing test (the same lady who did it did my sniffing test in June), sung really loudly and really quietly, read a story about an ant and a seed aloud, called to imaginary people in imaginary parks, pretended to count to a classroom, and had a camera stuck in my mouth so I gagged. Apparently my American English speech patterns are in my throat, which doesn't work for German (and Americans are always saying that German is so guttural. Not true!). That, combined with the fact that I started teaching, speaking German, and singing in a choir all at the same time without vocal training all came together to cause my throat problems.

I scheduled an appointment at the voice therapist to learn how to speak and breathe correctly. Then I scheduled six appointments with the physical therapist for my knee. Finally, I made an appointment to pick up a transfer slip for the new quartile so I can go to my pre-operation appointment at the ENT next week. Then I emailed the guy who taught the back-school at the conference to email me some exercises to shorten the back-shoulder muscles and neck-to-shoulder muscles. Maybe I will even fork out the bucks to become an ergonomical computer user so that my shoulder, neck, and wrists will stop hurting. The dumb thing is, that would probably mean buying a mouse pad, a separate screen or a separate keyboard, which seems to defeat the point of the convenient laptop.

Now I just need a plant doctor. I'm trying for the second year to grow tomato plants. The poor things. Last year, the roommates gave them too much water and they drowned while I was gone. This year, they have gotten pretty big, but they are really weak and I can't seem to kill all the bugs that are floating around them. I tried spraying them in the shower, vacuuming them, squishing them with a kleenex or with my shoe . . . I don't think these sad plants are going to be capable of producing any fruit.

I'm going to go look at my thesis for a while. That calls for one more doctor. Thesis doctor, anyone?