With me not working right now, one of the things I wanted to do was catch up on my health visits. I haven't had my teeth cleaned in a long time, my doctor said I should see a podiatrist for my plantar fasciitis, and I want to arrange a new time to see my shrink so my parents don't get suspicious that I never eat dinner with them on Wednesdays (if they haven't gotten suspicious already). Since I also want to exercise a little more during these three weeks, I figure it's best to chain these health visits together. And since the podiatrist can only see me on Thursdays, that'll be the day to do all three things.
So I first call the podiatrist, figuring it'd be easier spinning all the other appointments around him. But the nurse basically had most of the day open. What should I do now that the doctor was flexible? I had two things I placed above everything else: I did not want to be far away from home when afternoon rush began, and I wanted to get my teeth cleaned closer to the end of the day, just so they'll be able to clean out most of the stuff I eat during the day. The dental clinic I use through my health insurance is an RV (don't ask, I trust it, all the tools look sterilized) that travels around the state. And unfortunately, this week it's in south Minneapolis. So even though I wanted an appointment for that in the afternoon, I didn't want it too late in the afternoon. Consequently, if I was going to the dentist's in the afternoon, maybe it'd be best if I see the podiatrist in the morning. Then -- and I hadn't thought about him while figuring all of this out -- I was going to see my psychiatrist inbetween then. His office is between the podiatrist and the dental RV. Besides, I was led to believe when I spoke about my unemployment that his Thursdays were fairly free.
It's not as if I was thinking all of this while I was on the phone with the nurse; I had this all planned out, sort of. After giving me all the times I told her 9:15, even though 8:15 was also available. I figured that I could have breakfast first before seeing the podiatrist, who was close. Why wake up so early in the morning just to see a doctor? Later, I booked an appointment for the dental mobile clinic at 2 -- which, given that they allot about an hour per appointment, should give me plenty of time to get home without getting swamped in traffic.
Late last week I left a voicemail with my shrink. His secretary (a sweet lady, by the way) left me a VM saying that 10 or 11 would be best. On Monday we spoke and said that I had a doctor's appointment at 9:15, so it'd probably be best that I see him at 11. She needed to move someone she had 11 to 10, but that was OK, see you at 11.
But then I got to thinking, which is never a good thing. My sessions with my psychiatrist always run long. And assuming that our session doesn't start exactly at 11, more like 11:05, I could be out of there at, say, a quarter after noon. Moreover, I haven't seen the clinic in a couple years, so they asked me to come in to update my information before the 2 o'clock appointment, so be there at 1:45. I had hoped to take in lunch, probably at Hooters, because I had a coupon and I wanted to see a lot of cleavage. But if I get out of the shrink's office at 12:15 ... and I have to trek down to the Mall of America to eat ... and if I only get 90 minutes to do all of that before I have to report to the RV ... well, shit. I don't think I have enough time for beer and titties. Oh my God, I fucked this all up!
Well, no, not really. First of all, hey, #firstworldproblems. Second of all, there is this place called the Pizza Studio that I want to try. Can you get a decent personal pizza done in six minutes? That quick turnaround would help if I'm in a time crunch, which I suddenly realized I was in. This probably was the best time to try them. But finally, why the hell do I care so damn much?
But I did. So after thinking about it last night, this morning I decided to see if I could move up the times of both my psychiatrist and the podiatrist so I could leisurely eat and drink at Hooters and still be on time to the dental clinic. I called the shrink's office at first; turns out she didn't change the original 11 o'clock to 10, and the person actually would have preferred if that didn't change, so going back to what it was was totally fine. The podiatrist, unfortunately, is all booked up, so it was too late to change it up to 8:15. I thought about keeping the time and seeing if I can see him and then drive all the way to my psychiatrist in 45 minutes, but then I thought that was stupid. So I asked for next week, and then, because I wanted to make sure I had time to see other people in order to get the new insoles I think I will need (I figure there'll be another visit to get a footprint, then another week before they're done), I decided to make sure I got to see him ASAP. He takes patients at another clinic, one farther but not too far from home, Friday. So I am seeing him the following day. At 8:15.
So my plan of chaining up these three health visits on the same day when to shit, all because I wanted to make sure I had more than 90 minutes to eat at the Mall of America. I have to move a doctor's visit to a second day, which will affect the stuff I can and want to do that day, which actually makes my three weeks as a whole a little less flexible. And come to think of it, I might just eat at the Pizza Studio anyway. I'll bet I would have plenty of time to eat there if I just went to the podiatrist at 9:15 and the psychiatrist at 11, then still make it to the dental RV to fill out the paper work at 1:45. But I am a poor, panicky dumbass.
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