Dentist with Zingale, meeting new people, and Spanish meetup

November 27, 2023

Today was yet another example of kind of a perfect day. Hoping tomorrow goes as well too, which it should since it's a Tuesday. This morning I had my meds at 6:47 with one of the quick bites protein packs I bought the other day. Then I went to Zingale’s office for a dental appointment. I had good talks with him, even tho the receptionist who I’ve known for even longer than him had a flat tire and wasn’t there today. He fixed my chipped tooth, which is what I was taking a picture of in the far left photo, and he said I should keep using whitening toothpaste to stop it from looking rough again. In my talks with him, I also told him that I’ve actually started caring about little things again, like whether my earrings match my shirt, and today was an attempted green day in the morning, though that made me realize I don't have enough green, blue, or purple earrings/eyeshadow.

When I went home, I put a note on my door that it seemed like my heat wasn’t working fully. Also decided that writing things down really helps me to get little things done, like today I changed the pairs of gloves I keep in my car and my bag, I messaged Hannah to ask about a brewery I saw on the way to the dentist, and I also told Jodi that I like the licorice mint tea she gave me, which I only knew the flavor of because I’d written it down.

Then, I also did two appointments. I did a 10am with Esterov and an 11am with Jessica. I was a little surprised to learn that Esterov is actually a doctor not a therapist, and he said that he’s a similar kind of doctor to what Dr. Tonkin is. We talked about some medication stuff and I also told him that recently, “I could not be alone with myself and that’s why I needed a roommate.” That honestly goes back to when I was living with Hanah too. And then Jessica talked to me about a few strategies for remembering things as well.

And then, in preparations for my night Spanish meetup at 6pm at Mojo, I decided to take my meds at 3:56pm with some leftover pizza. I literally even texted myself at 3:56, “I doubt there’s gonna be food there, but just in case, I can eat at 6:30.” I was right, there wasn’t food there, though it was nice to know I could have ordered something, since the café stayed open til 8pm just for our event. For the event, I had a WONDERFUL time talking to this one guy named Jose, which is José without the accent. His parents are from Perú, and moved here from the East coast a week ago. He said his boyfriend is still living on the East coast to finish something to do with work, maybe teaching. Jose said that he’s “not a native,” but is almost one, “casi nativo.” He insists that in Perú sometimes José is spelled without the accent so it’s pronounced with slightly different emphasis. The only thing I forgot to ask at the meetup was one question about how to say “my goal is,” which I only remembered while I’m reading my notes again right now.

Days like today really prove to me that people are right when they say I seem less stressed without work in my life. I wonder whether everyone in the world would feel that way. This is NOT how I expected things to work out, but they’re kind of working out. Today I also ordered a TON of new business cards, and they're all photos I took post-TBI except for one of Dr. Kaszuba because that one lets me talk about Mayo Clinic a bit.