functional algorithm design

It's been a productive two days. Since yesterday morning, I've gone to the doctor, gotten my car fixed, got a NOLA driver's license, renewed my registration, drank a bunch of whiskey and got my hair cut. Later, I'm going to work on a paper, order a school book and go to a Mardi Gras parade.

The doctor visit went really well. Dr. Moore spent about 10 minutes talking with me about my various health concerns, mostly regarding the PCOS. I told her I'd been off my medication for awhile and had some dizzy spells and one fainting incident. Nevertheless, she feels I was on entirely too much medication. She ordered a basic metabolic panel to check, among other things, cholesterol, blood sugar and white blood cell count (which could be a factor in the dizziness). After we get those values, we'll talk about possibly starting me back on insulin-resistance medication.

I also spoke to her about getting the Garadisil shot, which she recommended. I've been meaning to get that done for awhile. I went ahead and asked for a full STD screening as well (5 tubes of blood!), because I like being assured of a clean bill of health.

That said, I'm a tiny bit worried because, during the exam, she found some nodules in my right breast. She said that sometimes women get those right before a period, which would make sense for me, but if the're not gone in 2 weeks, we'll need to do a breast ultrasound. But my mom gets those as well and I hear they're fairly common, so hopefully it's nothing.

I came to BR afterwards and dropped my car off at the mechanic. As it turns out, the only thing really wrong with the car was a busted air hose, which was causing the machine at Auto Zone to register a broken fuel filter and a defective MAF sensor as well. Mom and I had lunch and went to the DMV, where I was both amused and disturbed by the amount of total freaks present, including one batshit lady who was telling a group of people in line about how "the federal government gives all our taxes to foreign banks and steals from us!" She was starting some kind of community task force to take on the government. Another man talked of a machine he had built that cures cancer but wasn't approved by the FDA because they don't like Chinese people.

Mom dragged me out shopping (and bought me new jeans and a spoon rest as compensation, even though I asked her not to) until my car was ready. I met up with Christie and we adventured at Perks, Whole Foods, Perks again, and Zee Zee Gardens. One of Christie's customers from Pinettas bought us 2 drinks each, on top of the ones we'd already ordered, and the bartender gave us free "chocolate cake" shots for giving her a pen. We ended the night in Christie's living room with some intense and therapeutic talking that I apparently passed out in the middle of. I woke up at 3am, stumbled into the kitchen and drank a bunch of water before going back to sleep...only to be woken by Christie's neighbors stumbling up the stairs and then singing the entire "Tommy" album, causing me to want to stab pens into my ears.

I left early this morning to go get my hair cut and now I look like a functioning member of society again. I need to work on my Medieval NOLA paper and do some reading for my ethics class before Krewe du Vieux. I'm toying with the idea of going drinking at Molly's or somewhere around lower Decatur after the parade and maybe getting some Angeli's, depending on who I can drag along with me. I want to go out and play.