I'm mad at myself for being too discombulated to say anything at the time it was happening.

The same thing happened with me last year, with my ex-shrink. At the first appointment I had with her after my scary not-quite-suicidal experience (okay, the appointment was 3 months after, but she had my records and knew I ended up at the psych ER the next day), she didn't ask me one specific question about my mental health, but proceded to talk about my weight the entire time, and what I should weigh, and what exercises were good (Pilates, IIRC, is good for the "fat around your middle"), and that if I hadn't lost weight by my next appointment 3 months hence, she'd put me on a weight-loss drug.

Because apparently *fat* is what makes you crazy.

I was utterly flabbergasted and, consequently, speechless.

That was my last appointment with her. Fuck that.

That's why I totally don't get the poise line.

I think it was a sly reference to the standard "she's older than her years" line that makes it into every article ever written about her. Poise is almost meaningless if when you open your mouth nothing comes out.

Your fat is what makes me crazy, Teppy... t waggles eyebrows suggestively

I had a bad eye doctor experience last week. I'm never going back to that woman.

I really need to see the eye doctor every year because of family history of eye disease and she's never getting my business again.

The only way to eliminate rotten treatment by physicians is to be a squeaky wheel. Complain to the physician, complain to the office, complain to the insurance company, and never visit the rotten doctor again. Insist on compassionate care. Such disrespect and disregard makes me crazy. Grrrrrrrrr There are good doctors out there. If you can’t get a recommendation from someone you know then try talking to the staff. Experience has shown me that when the staff is rude the doctor is too. A good doctor won’t tolerate rotten staff.

ION, Sue tempted me so I taped General Hospital. That Rick Springfield guy sure is cute.

Dear Santa,

I've been very good this year. Please bring me an optical vortex coronagraph.

Thanks, bye!

p.s. How do you actually know when I've been bad or good?

[link]

A new optical device might allow astronomers to view extrasolar planets directly without the annoying glare of the parent star. It would do this by "nulling" out the light of the parent star by exploiting its wave nature, leaving the reflected light from the nearby planet to be observed in space-based detectors. The device, called an optical vortex coronagraph, is described in the December 15, 2005 issue of Optics Letters.

The problem was that the student was doing the thing that I'll not TMI on everyone, and she hurt me.

And they were 40 minutes late. And instead of giving me the health survey they give me every year to complete while they kept me waiting, asked me the long list of increasingly retarded questions (draw a diagram of your family tree? I told her to write, "patient thinks this is dumb" on it) while I was naked and cold.

Ouch.

Also? Very strange question. All the stuff I ever fill out seems to revolve around "what are your vices that are going to kill you dead" and "what killed your relatives dead" and "are you knocked up? Are you sure? ARE YOU REALLY SURE!!?! No kidding!??!" and "how many time you been cut open?"

Allyson,

somewhere on one of these boards - I think it was back on Salon - there was a discussion of bad gynecological visits. I swear that was the craziest thread I'd ever read. There are some really doozy of stories out there - shockingly bad.

My worst experience was when I was in graduate school and decided to go to the women's clinic (university affliated) near a mall. The doctor was ready to do the (TMI) and I had my legs in stirrups. She got called out of the room and I was stranded in the stirrups (ass facing the door) until she came back in. Then she left AGAIN mid-procedure. I couldn't believe that shit. Never went back.

That ID article is very weird. Actually, it's weirdly like a lot of ID spokespeople itself in the way it seems to be setting up a situation as though it was a big controversy when in fact there's no there there.

Why hasn't ID done as well as expected in academia? Well, who would honestly have expected it to in the first place? Scientists haven't glommed on in mass numbers? Actual experimentation according to scientific principles doesn't appear to be forthcoming? Hello. Kind of the point, yo.