Bit of Ivory

Jordan Commons sold more tickets for PotC than any theatre in the world.

Hmm. I know I saw it there four times out of my ten.

I love this part:

Gunderson thinks one reason Utahns liked the movie was because they like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland and Disney World. But he also credits Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, the movie’s stars, as being quite appealing to Utah women.

It got so that Gunderson recognized some women who kept coming back again and again.

Quite appealing. Ummm, yeah. That’s the understatement of the year.

So remember how my regular chiropractor wasn’t in on Friday, so I went to another one? I ended up going back to that chiropractor on Monday, because were weren’t completely sure that I’d be able to get an appointment with Dr. Egbert. So we went in. Dr. Peterson showed me my x-ray, told me I had a degenerating disk, and recommended that I see him not only every day this week, but three times a week for the next month and twice a week for five months after that. A total of 41 treatments at $40 a pop. He also wanted to do some tests that involved having me raise both legs at once and lean to the right and the left, which he wanted to charge $20 each to do. That’s over $1700 damage to my car, you son of a butthead. (Sorry. Inside Bytheway joke. Explanations will be given on request). Anyway, we don’t have chiropractic insurance, so that’s a heck of a lot of money. We thought about it, and decided that if there was something seriously wrong with my back, I’d better go to a medical doctor where we have insurance. So at my appointment yesterday we told him we weren’t going to be coming back, and called our regular chiropractor for an appointment today.

I went to Dr. Egbert today, and told him a little bit about what had happened. We hadn’t gotten past “he took some x-rays” when he said “and he scared you, right?”

“Yeah, he said I had a degenerating disk. . .”

“And that you’ll be dead in two weeks.”

When we told him Dr. Peterson wanted to schedule 41 treatments, he said “maybe in your lifetime.”

I love having a good chiropractor.

So I go back on Friday. He also gave me some exercises to do at home, and wants me to come in and use his weight room (free of charge) at least 3 times a week to strengthen my back. And that’s that. We might consult an orthopedic specialist by and by, just to make sure everything’s all right back there.

Now, to make my new icon. Must find good Hornblower pics.

What could be better than Sexy Pirate Boy and Sexy Navy Boy in the same night?

Hooray for Pirates and Horatio Hornblower!!!!!!11!!!1!one

And for anyone else who might be interested, I’m leading a discussion of Pride and Prejudice over on the Sugar Quill book club. We’ve got three threads going: a general discussion, a character dissection thread, and one specifically for discussion of Lizzy and Darcy. My posts are feeling lonely, so your opinions are encouraged!

My back is feeling much better. Thank you for all your hugs and prayers and thoughts.

I hope everyone (in the US) had a happy Thanksgiving. Mine wasn’t bad. Good food, good company. I spent a lot of it on the couch, trying to get my back into shape.

It didn’t work.

When I went into work, wearing a back brace, I thought I’d be able to last until 3. But then I started walking up the stairs, and three steps from the top I was in more pain than I’ve ever been in. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t even lay down. I called my mom, who immediately started calling our regular chiropractor. Unfortunately, it seemed that he took the day off. Even his emergency number wasn’t answering. Mom eventually got an appointment with a chiropractor that she’d seen before, and took me in. He charged $75 and did absolutely nothing. I came home and took a couple of percoset (which did nothing either, except make me sick to my stomach), but I was still in so much pain that mom called another chiropractor that my aunt recommended. It hurt so badly to get up off the couch that I was bawling my eyes out. We had to wait quite a while in the chiropractor’s office, but this guy was good. He took a couple of x-rays, did some electrode therapy, and adjusted my back. The x-rays showed that I have a pinched nerve, and a couple of discs in my spine are thinner than they would like. Which all boils down to pain, and lots of it. This guy only charged $82 for the whole shootin’ match, and a big ice pack thrown in besides. I’m going back on Monday for a follow up.

So here I am, flat on my back. I feel a bit better today– I can get up without crying, at least, although it still hurts. Hopefully I’ll be recovered enough to work my shift on Monday. Someone else is covering my shift today.

Thank goodness for Ginny. I

I need it. I’m getting a cold, which SUX, especially as I have to work Friday morning at 7:30 AM. You stupid day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers, making me leave my nice warm bed to cater to your every whim.

Plus my back hurts. It’s been kind of halfway out– aching, but bearable. Well, I was taking out my contacts about an hour ago and I sneezed. I think I threw it all the way out. Which really SUX, as I won’t be able to visit a chiropractor until Friday afternoon at the earliest, and even then it’s iffy. Don’t know if they’ll be in the office that day or not. Plus its ridiculous that a sneeze can throw my back out.

I registered to take the GRE today. I’ve got about a month to finish preparing. Must study. Also began filling out my application to BYU’s graduate school. Must think of an extremely good essay. I also approached two people for letters of recommendation– my favorite English professor and the literature librarian at the BYU library. Must think of someone else. Dr. Walker has already replied. Haven’t heard from Robert yet.

I got an interesting phone call at work the other day. You just know it’s going to be bad when the first thing the customer says to you is “Are you really busy?” Dread settles in, and you just know that they’re going to ask you to do something extraordinary. This one had loaned her copy of “Heloise’s Hints” to her daughter, and wanted to know how to get contact paper off of her shelf. I have a hard time figuring out why people call us when faced with problems like this. Do they assume that because we’re an LDS bookstore that we’ll be nice? I mean, I know that when I have a household dilemma, my first thought is “I know! I’ll call those nice people at Deseret Book!” Or there was that lady who wanted to know how to spell “sincerely.” My favorite story, though, is of some poor girl who had a job interview with Seagull Book, our competitor, and called my manager to find out what kind of questions he asks at interviews! Anyway, after her initial plea, she added “I guess I could look on the internet, couldn’t I?” Oh, that’s a thought! Yes, lady, Google is your friend. Anyway, we didn’t have any of Heloise’s books in stock, nor anything else that could possibly help her, so I got out of actually doing anything other than rolling my eyes at her and snarking with my coworkers and here.

Am already saving my money for The Witching Hour. How cool is holding a HP conference in Salem? I was hoping it would be somewhere out West, as it would be easy for me to get there. But this is really cool nevertheless. Is during school, though. I’m going to have to make sure to present if I want my teachers to be lenient. I hope to see many of you there!

Gah. I’m tired. Will go to bed early. Must help mom with pies in the morning.

Anyone who wants a holiday card from me, send me an email at emily at bit-of-ivory dot com with your address.

And the really bad thing about this fact is that I have another exhausting week ahead of me. Ah, the joys of working retail in the Christmas season. I worked every day last week, and will repeat the processes this week, except that I do get Thanksgiving off. But then the day after Thanksgiving starts bright and early as the mall opens at 8. Oh, well. My paychecks will be lovely and big.

My back hurts, too. I’ve been trying to take it easy yesterday and this morning, but it still hurts. I hope I don’t throw it all the way out. I’ll have to be careful lifting BOOX today.

The Suncoast store just down the mall has little standees for the Pirates DVD out. I wanted to swipe the Orlando one.

Speaking of Orlando, I’ve been doing my best to overdose on him this weekend. I don’t think it’s possible, but it’s sure been fun trying. I saw Pirates again on Friday night, and have been watching the TTT:EE at every available opportunity. I’ve got the cast commentary going now. I have to go to work at noon, so I’m laying on a heating pad and enjoying Tolkien until I go back to the drudgery.

I did manage to dredge up the energy to go dancing on Saturday night. It was incredibly fun. Did a bit of triple swing, a bit of cha cha, learned a bit of Lindy. I need to go dancing more often. But I need a guy who knows how to dance. *sigh*

I managed to get Retrospection 7 and Ancient Prophecy 16 beta-read last night. I’m now only a little bit behind where I want to be. My plot bunnies are still hopping around madly, but I just don’t have time right now to sit down and write. It’s infuriating.

*sigh* Must go get ready for WUX.

I’ve got tickets! I’ve got tickets!

1:30 PM show. Opening day. Me and Jen.

And will be going to PotC tomorrow night!

I’m getting tireder and tierder as the week goes on. But there is a definite advantage to getting up at 8, to be there by 9:30, rather than getting up at 6 to be there by 8. Plus I get off at 3:00. Yes, part-time definitely has its advantages.

There’s a large kiosk in the mall, just a few steps down from DB, called Cottonwood Sweets. They sell, among other things, ice cream. I’ve been known to jaunt on down and get a cone during my break, or just after work. Today I was so tired and listless (and I had the beginnings of a headache) that I decided to walk down and get a vanilla Coke during my break. Imagine my thrill when I discovered that they’d brought black licorice ice cream in for the holidays. Now, I don’t understand what’s so holidayish about black licorice, but I’m not about to complain. I’m not all that fond of black licorice, but black licorice ice cream is an entirely different matter. It’s smooth and creamy and oh so yummy. Unfortunately, it’s extremely hard to find, even in Utah where ice cream is so ubiquitous as to be almost omnipresent (look Mr. Wood! I used two Honors Sophmore English vocab words in the same sentence!). We usually have to go all the way to Ogden (and hour 1/2 drive) to get it. Anyway, after work I went and bought a double scoop. I think I may buy out their supply.

Has been uploaded here.

Watch! Enjoy!

Between that and the “Final Tally” scene on the TTT:EE, I’m a hapy camper.

And Dad fixed Ginny’s power cord! WAHOOOO!!!!!

So Ginny’s power cord is kaput. I thought it was a problem with her power jack at first, just like last time, but it was the A/C adapter that died. Unfortunately, that A/C adapter is ON BACKORDER at the warehouse, and they have no idea how soon they’ll get them in. So I’m stuck on Harry for the foreseeable future, unless one of my siblings is nice enough to lend me their power cord when they come home on weekends.

Here’s the problem, though. I THOUGHT that I moved my notes from Mary GrandPre’s lecture onto Harry, as well as the beginning of the transcript I’ve been making. In fact, I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER saving both in Harry’s Shared Files directory. And they’re NOT HERE. And Ginny doesn’t have enough juice to even turn her on right now. *sigh* Now I shall have to start all over.

I’m working EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS WEEK. Which means that I won’t be home in the mornings. But I’ll be around in the evenings. And by Saturday, I’ll be dead. Sunday to recover. Then it’s back to work EVERY DAY BUT THANKSGIVING.

*le sigh* I asked for it, too. “Give me as many hours as you can.” I never expected this, though.

Sorry about all the caps. Was easier than doing italics.