original post:

i went to go see my doctor, had a meeting with a client, rode around in the rain (almost crashed the bike), got knocked on the head with a falling wine bottle, watched three movies at kendall cinema (2 with julie), saw johnny damon in davis square, and temporarily had my web services turned off because i exceded the bandwidth limit. and oh: )) <> ((

updated post:

this morning i had an appointment to see my new primary care physician at MGH. my old doctor, harvey simon, retired at the start of this summer, and recommended that i go with doctor lester. doctor simon was something of a celebrity amongst the medical community, writing several health care books and the editor of a harvard medical newsletter. his clientele were mostly senior citizens, and i usually have to wait at least an hour per appointment because he's usually so busy with patients, but i didn't mind, he was a good doctor, and a good celebrity doctor at that. how would doctor lester compare? right off the bat, the wait time was reduced significantly because i don't think he has very many elderly patients. the nurse took my blood pressure and weighed me (134 lbs? how'd that happen?). i waited for her to ask me about my blood pressure, which is something they always do because it's abnormally high, but when she didn't say anything, i ended up asking her. "120/80, normal," she said, as a sighed with relief, my silent killer keeping quiet, at least for today. she led me to the doctor's office where i waited a bit, browsing through a few women's magazines, before doctor lester came into the room, resembling comedian patton oswalt. we introduced one another, and he basically let me talk about myself to find out who i am. when he heard i'd recently been on a trip to southeast asia, that was our bonding moment, because turns out he's quite a world traveler himself, having been to asia at least 15 times, and doing some medical volunteer work throughout china. he'd been to parts of vietnam, and angkor wat, and of course thailand. i told him about phnom penh, about shooting AK-47's and eating duck embryos. he told me a horrible story about contracting dysentery in vietnam (pink stool covered in mucous). we chatted for about 15 minutes, and that was the whole visit. he didn't even examine me, and when i told him my insurance basically wouldn't cover any sort of tests, he understood my situation and said i could try applying for financial assistance downstairs. he wrote out some prescriptions for me and said i wouldn't have to come back in a year.

i rode back to cambridge, the weather threatening rain but i managed to make it back without any meteorological drama. in the afternoon i had a meeting with NL in allston-brighton about some potential projects. the weather didn't look good and it started raining midway there; i had to pull off on the side of the road and put on my poncho so i wouldn't get soaked. after the meeting i rode home in a slight drizzle. i was a little careless and stopped too fast on wet pavement, skidding to a stop after several seconds of dangerous fishtailing.

back at home, while fishing through the kitchen racks looking for some potential snacks to bring with me to the theatre, a bottle of red wine fell from the upper shelf and knocked me on the head. fortunately i was still quick enough to catch the bottle before it smashed to the floor. the accident left a welt which i kept touching, seeing if it was bleeding. soon afterwards i left for the kendall cinema. originally i wanted to take the T because i was afraid of the rain, but it'd take too long and be more expensive, so i decided to risk it. i stopped off at brooke's to pick up some candy before arriving at kendall.

here's the plan: i was going to kendall to see the matinee of the world (playing for this week only), then sneak into grizzly man immediately afterwards, where i would hook up with julie, and then later the two of us would go see me and you and everyone we know. it was an ambitious plan, seeing three movies consecutively, but i was up to the task.

the world turned out not that great. that beijing accent is jarring on my eardrums and i wasn't interested in the characters, when i could tell them apart from one another. i was even tempted to just walk about, were it not for the fact that i had to stay there so i could catch the next movie. i took a bathoom break mid-movie and was in no hurry to get back into the screening room. once the world was finally over, i snuck into grizzly man. the room was surprisingly crowded (the movie had already started, about 10 minutes into the film) and i saw somebody who i thought was julie and hurriedly crounch-ran to that person; turns out it wasn't her, and fortunately i realized this before embarassing myself. so i just sat down and watched the movie, eating my candy. once it was over, i looked behind me and saw julie waving from a few rows back. at that point we actually went back out to the lobby. instead of sneaking into my 3rd movie of the evening, julie had 2 discounted tickets she had to use up by month's end, so we cashed them in to see me and you and everyone we know. an unknown film, that turned out to be the best one of the night. the movie is throughly unique in dialogue and situation, and quite funny in an understated way, yet at the same time sort of touching as it follows lonely people trying to find love and meaning in their lives.

since neither of us had dinner yet (i've been in the theatres since 5pm), we went to red bones in davis square. that where i saw a guy who looked remarkably like johnny damon walking on the other side of the street, with a woman who looks remarkably like johnny damon's wife. i casually pointed for julie but she wasn't paying attention; that is, until we heard girls shrieking, and running up to the johnny damon look-a-like. we stood and watched. "i think that's johnny damon," i told julie. and sure enough, it was. turns out he was just at red bones enjoying a late night meal. we arrived at the restaurant-bar, where i ordered a steak & cheese sandwich while julie watched me eat, suddenly not very hungry anymore. later she gave me a ride back to my place.