arrgghh

it's international talk like a pirate day, which personally i think jumped the shark a while ago but since we're in a seaside-like setting here in san diego, it's sort of hard to resist. plus, with that one sentiment (arrrrggggh) i can totally sum up my experience here.

one the bright side, i have my boys back, and all is well. we've been doing all sorts of fun exploring at the beach, at balboa park, at the maritime museum, at coronado island, visiting some friends out and about, etc. that part has been pretty fantastic. just trying to enjoy the last week here before heading back into the great unknown at this point.

and when i say unknown, i mean it. we're back to pdx but at this moment, still homeless, and then it appears we'll be shuffled off again to somewhere on the canadian border...which continues to be a twist in the plot that i can't seem to come to terms with but at some point here will have to get over. in the meantime it's keeping me up at nite and remains a total energy suck.

i've had some good patients this week, my favorite was a bush pilot from alaska who happened to be in town for a family reunion and thought to get her annual checkup. last annual checkup was 10 years ago. cause that's how they do it in AK, time and health are just sort of these vague backdrops to reality. plus, i got the feeling she really wouldn't want to know if there was anything wrong with her, cause then she'd have to go find someone to take her out back with a shotgun, cause she would rather that than have to go to a hospital for any sort of care. what a character.

everyone else i have seen confirms my suspicion that a little xanax in the water supply here would go a long way. perhaps it's the disaster this of economic times we live in, or the mad pressure to become a VIP...(as witnessed in a woman who came in who gave me- though i declined to ask- the laundry list of her very famous clients that i didn't even know, reasoning that i had to make her "better" so she could go back to work because these people NEEDED her and she would be nothing without THEM....), or have unfounded swine flu fears and are demanding tamiflu left and right...

but really, people here in general seem to be worked up about things that are mostly ridiculous. and i can understand how that can be exhausting. but silly. i long for people with real problems and who can rationalize the bigger picture. and for people who understand the value of comfortable footwear. and i'm not talking about rhinestone covered crocs, although i really REALLY wish i had had my camera for those. maybe i'm misunderstanding their smaller issue for underlying bigger ones, but still....all i am hearing is that these people are too stressed out to go to the spa 3 times a week like they usually do, now they're only going twice a week. i'm not cut out for people with "special" needs like this.

in other big news on the homefront, camper is nearly potty trained, and liam got his first set of stitches this week. smashed his forehead into some steps as he was climbing up mt. soledad. 3 stitches and a bunch of steri strips later, he was happy as a clam...until i have to take them out. then it will be WWIII. scripps memorial hospital ED was great, we were in and out in a hour. our doc was a spitting image of the sarcastic head honcho on scrubs- i don't watch it enough to know who that is, but it was a pretty amusing comparison.

beyond that, we've been highly entertained by our neighbors nightly arguments and boisterous making-of-the-looove episodes afterwards. it's better than TV. conveniently in the middle of the nite. but, at least they're not our roomates....so we can openly laugh AT them without worrying they might see it. for the most part, our condo complex is pretty quiet and serene...with the exception of, of course, the people that live RIGHT next to us. so when camper throws a tantrum, we put him on our bed and let him shake the headboard, scream loudly and work it out. for as long as it takes.

someday we'll get it right. in the meantime, it's more rolling of the housing dice, another spin of the moving roulette wheel. T-minus one week until we get to play again! whoohoo!

surf's up...and we're headed out to the beach at del mar to jump on some surfboards with paul and kerri this afternoon, who really have saved the day in terms of us getting to know san diego in a much better way than we would have ever found on our own- followed by LEGOLAND tomorrow. we haven't told the kids. i think we'll just get in the car and pretend to get lost and just show up in the parking lot there and let them figure it out. hoping for a huge kodak moment.