Like George W. Bush, I have a hole in my head. And like Al Gore, I have an inconvenient tooth.
This week certainly didn’t turn out like I thought it was. Wednesday morning was spent in a dentist chair for a deep cleaning – loads of fun. All of Friday morning was spent removing a cancerous spot from the top of my head.
My family has a history of sensitivity to the sun, and it’s an affliction I’ve had to deal with before, too. I had gone to the dermatologist for a regular check-up, and had pointed out a particularly troubling spot that had just arisen. He must have had some concern, too, because he immediately scheduled me for out-patient surgery.
The young surgeon had a very twisted sense of humor – I liked him. He came in wearing a bowtie with skull-n-crossbone symbols. He and his staff were amazed at my array of gadgets – iPod to while away the time and take my mind off of what was happening above, and Blackberry to check on work e-mail while I waited. At one point, the doctor was highly amused at my appearance with a pair of forceps sticking out of my head, and said he wished he had a camera. I produced my Nikon S50, and he snapped a couple of shots…
Like I said, the guy’s twisted. At on point, I asked if he had ever watched Men in Black. I told him I felt like Edgar getting his skin stretched.
By late morning, I left with the entire top of my head wrapped in bandages and a 3 cm hole in my head, 16 stitches, prescriptions for some heavy-duty painkillers, and the good news that they had gotten it all.
However, I couldn’t indulge in painkillers just yet. Laura and I had tickets to a rally for Barak Obama for the afternoon. I donned a ball cap that just barely covered my bandages, and we headed out.
There was quite a crowd, and they kept pushing in closer and closer. I tend to be HIGHLY claustrophobic in crowds. After standing in close confines for about hour with my head throbbing, I was beginning to question our attendance. There was some preliminary entertainment, some photo-op machinations, and finally Obama arrived, 30 minutes late.
Obama is an excellent orator, and leaves one with a sense of hope. However, apart from his sincerety and upbeat message, we couldn’t remember any specific points or issues. Perhaps it’s a bit early for that. Regardless, I certainly think we could do worse (and have done) in our choice of president.
For most of Greenville, Obama is somewhere to the left of Joseph Stalin. Or maybe even worse …
About a month ago, an acquaintance (a very well off and successful person) asserted to me that since Obama went to school in Indonesia for four years there was a distinct possibility that he was a radical Muslim plant. When I said (with what I hoped was some incredulity) “You mean a Manchurian Candidate?” he had no clue what I was talking about.