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the living room table is a mess, despite the fact that i cleaned it just last week. it seems to be a depository of everything in the house, from loose change to receipts, to empty soda cans, dirty dishes, books, post-it notes, pill bottles, bills, and other miscellaneous items. i see it as a slackitude barometer; the more stuff that piles on the table, the more i'm just lounging around the house not being fully productive.

it was me versus the health insurance bureaucracy today. i called my doctor's office to get an update on the prior authorization approval for my blood pressure medication. the nurse told me everything was fixed but i sensed i was getting the brush off. instead of wasting a trip down to the pharmacy only to be turned away, i called my health insurance and asked them if my doctor had sent him anything. the guy told me he was still waiting, so i called the nurse again to let her know there'd been no progress, and that they needed to send in the paperwork. there has to be an easier way to get prescription drugs. times like this makes me wish i lived closer to the southern border where i could drive down to mexico to get my pills and not have to deal with all this legwork.

in the late afternoon something happened. it'd been raining all morning but there was a temporary lull. hours later the sky darkened and suddenly there was a burst of rain and strong winds, like a hurricane. i was raining horizontally and i could hardly see through the downpour. trees were bending and branches were breaking off. the heaviest stuff lasted for just a few seconds, but looking out the window, i was surprised there wasn't more damage, other than the scattering of small branches on the roads.

ate the rest of my tuna sandwich for lunch, followed by a healthy afternoon appetizer of carrots and celery stalks with a blue cheese dip. being lactose intolerant, i suffered the consequences of cheese dip consumption, but i'd gladly do it again, all for the sake of good eating. my father dropped off some meat buns which i had for dinner, along with some ginger ice cream and some leftover cherries.