June 07, 2008

10:04 p.m.

Sweating

I'm startna get excited.

Making my packing list for MacDowell... it's long. One uses so many things in six weeks. I wrote the person in charge of meals and told them I was on a gluten-free regimen right now. I hope that doesn't inconvenience them; it shouldn't, really. I said I would be bringing special cereal and bread (and, having borrowed a mini-fridge from someone who works with my sister, I'll be able to keep stuff like bread from early death) but that I wouldn't be eating pasta and so forth at dinner. Just this moment I realized it may totally affect my lunches, which will be left in a basket at my studio door each day. I guess I can work with the kitchen folks -- maybe I'd just hand over my Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain bread to them in the first place and if they make me a sandwich they can use that. It must get complicated for them to accommodate a lot of diets as people come and go in the Colony.

I went to Rose's office today as planned, and got a total of 12 caratoses (flat moles) and little skin tags zapped with liquid nitrogen. She poured some from a big canister into another one the size of a thermos, and it smoked like witch's brew. Then a variety of nozzles was chosen and we selected the lucky recipients.

I know you want to know what this feels like. It's like having a tiny ice cube tray stuck to your skin, or being repeatedly stabbed by a frozen little bitty ice pick. Rose has a number of large tattoos and she said it's similar to the pain of having a tattoo applied, only it fades more quickly. I thought, yikes! Maybe I'll rethink that tattoo.

At $70-$80 a pop, had I done this the usual way and billed insurance, it would have cost an insurance company over $700 for this procedure! That's outrageous.

So the little buggers get frozen, then thawed quickly with a warm fingertip, and then they sting annoyingly for the rest of the day and, in a week or two, disappear.

Then we went to Job Lot and got really great, sturdy (AND colorful) canvas tote bags for grocery shopping, for a mere $3.99 each. I also found bamboo blinds in sizes that I think would accommodate my balcony. Didn't feel ready for that project yet, but I do like the idea of sitting out there, invisible to the neighborhood.

And it's bloody HOT! It was mid-90s today and is going to stay up there for three more days -- getting near 100 on Monday. Methinks it's time to install the air conditioners. Well, I wanted to do that before I left anyway.

Tomorrow, dinner again with Liza Otter, Dove and Turtle, and some other guests I haven't met yet -- to get a handle on this dream ceremony.