I have said farewell to my tonsils! They went away yesterday. It was an interesting day!

My mom had decided that she wanted to be there for my operation, and I wanted Jamison to come because I didn't completely trust mom to be able to handle it...by being reliable, I mean. I knew Jamie would pay attention to the nurses for care instructions, because he's my nurse for a couple of days. (He's gotten up every four hours to give me my meds, sweet boy! I love him times a million)

Before we headed to the hospital, we went to City Hall to vote. Hiccup number one... mom's license expired in October, so she had no valid proof of ID. Good thing we were in the right building for her to renew it. Hiccup number two, since I have moved, apparently I have to vote at a different precinct. The library. Not too far away, but I was completely r-tarded, and took the long way. I was so preoccupied with the other goings on of the day, I just started walking down the strip mall to 4th street. For those of you who know the area... the freaking library is right across 61 from City Hall on 2nd Street. Yeah. I'm an idiot.

So, after I voted, I walked back to City Hall (the right way) and Mom and Jamie still weren't out yet. Weird. Turns out (and if my throat didn't murderously hurt right now, I would be laughing all over again) Mom had to do her ballot twice. Why? Well, she filled it out, and slipped it into the machine, and it was rejected over and over and over again. She was getting aggravated, and the ancient woman assisting her was clueless. Then the woman looked at it, and said "Oh. Ma'am, you can only vote for one president". Mom, completely being Mom, had decided that it would be a good idea to vote for John McCain AND Ralph Nader, not realizing that they were running for the same presidency. I guess in Mom's world the Green party is a different race altogether... if you have the opportunity, please give her crap! She's way embarrassed, but it's way too good to let slip by! So she had to get another ballot and start over at the back of the line.

After that, Mom and Jamison tortured me by having me sit with them while they had Burger King for breakfast. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. That's just mean! Then we went back to the house for a bit, and then off to the hospital!

The operation went well, and it was an out patient procedure. All I remember is the typical questions (I had to pronounce my name for them about 15 times) and some guy telling me he knew a Lisa Killmer back when he was an intern, and then I was getting woken up from a very good dream, and absolutely freezing to death.

After I was awake enough to eat a popsicle, they brought Mom and Jamie in. When they had first woken me up, the nurse had shoved some ice chips in my mouth. I've never felt anything so glorious. When mom got there, she spied the cup, and gleefully shrieked "Ice chips!" and took them for herself. I had to laugh. Typical mom. "My mouth is so dry." she claimed, munching away. No, Corrie-- whose tonsils were just ripped out doesn't need to numb the pain at all. Help yourself. Oh, Mom. You're one of a kind.

Jamie reluctantly handed my book back to me. He and I are both reading the "Twilight" series, and I was on the last book. He finished the third before I finished the fourth, and was chomping at the bit to get it out of my hands. He was very grateful that I would be unconscious for a couple of hours so he could dive on in.

Those books--- without sounding incredibly cheesy, have changed my life. Or rather, changed it back. Because of those books, I have renewed a friendship I thought was beyond help, and I have caught the writing bug, and have a bazillion stories shooting through my head, just like I did all the way up until... the badness. Aside from "See Me Through" the last thing I COMPLETED was "Now And Forever"... when I realized that, my jaw dropped!

The last thing I can remember obsessively writing was "The Downside Of Blinking" which stopped dead in its tracks when I started dating BJ. When my writing stopped, my life just shot to hell very very fast. It left a giant void that I tried to fill with all the wrong things. (These are week long realizations that I'm summing up in a paragraph or two) BJ, moving, BJ, Andi, Pete, Nathan... the wrong things, meaning stupid men.

Before all of that happened, I was perfectly content (and made fun of) by living vicariously through my characters. They were my close personal friends, and very much a part of me. Their successes were mine, and I was just so happy to get to be a part of their stories! I didn't make them up, they told them to me. Laugh all you want, but it's true.

ANYWAY... this revelation about myself, and how to get back to who I was...helped me realize how Nikki and I became friends in the first place. My writing. It just made it so easy to see how to get everything to fall back into place. And it did! It feels so good to find myself again. The bitterness just melted away, I talk to her all the time, it's just fantastic. We're both relieved, I think... to know that it wasn't all for naught.

ANYWAY... time for a lifesaving popsicle. Ow times 12. Farewell friends!

-ME!