So I'm at work, and I walk by a guy who looks familiar. I'm curious to see if it really is who I think it is, so I walk by again, and he sees me. And he gets this look on his face - pure ego - she is so checkin' me out!
Actually, I wasn't. I get back to the kitchen and nudge one of the girls I was out with over the weekend. "Dude, that really annoying talkative guy from the other night is at table 27."
My boyfriend had to have knee surgery yesterday morning. The surgery was to be done in Lubbock (a couple hours' drive from here) and since the doctor wanted us at the hospital at 6am, we drove over the night before. And all that night, all I could think of was that stupid book.
Did you ever read that book in high school? The guy dies. He breaks his leg, and when the doctor goes to set the bone, a bit of bone marrow gets loose, gets into his bloodstream, and stops his heart. He dies. From a broken leg!
Okay, I know, I know, it's just a book. The guy had to die for the story to be what it was supposed to be. Plus, it was set during WW2, so sixty years of medical technology stand between what might have happened then, and what happens now. I saw the X-rays, I talked to the doctor myself; my rational brain knew that this was nothing more than a routine repair of a torn ligament, one of maybe four or five such procedures that the doctor had scheduled for that day. Nothing would go wrong. (And nothing did.)
But middle-of-the night fears are seldom rational. That was definitely the worst night's sleep I've ever had...and all because I read a book.
Yeah, so I've been in New Mexico for over a month now, and haven't bothered to write anything, almost since I got here. I haven't found myself with a lot of original or inspiring thoughts running around my brain lately. Just a dry spell...it happens; but in the meantime, while I'm waiting for inspiration to return, I can offer up some minor observations on life in a small town in the desert.
First of all, though it is unquestionably desert out here, I got to see my first good snowfall since last February. In Dallas, there's maybe one snowfall a year - the rest of the time it just ices. Last week here we got something like eight inches, and it was so cool! Then by the end of the week it was back to warm sunshiny spring.
Everyone asks me how I'm adjusting to life in a small town, and don't I miss Dallas? The answer is, pretty well and not really. The small-town life isn't that much of an adjustment; I've done it before. And along with life in a small town, I also get family life. It's smaller here, but the love of my life is here, along with his mom, his sister and brother-in-law, and a nephew and baby niece. And they've taken me in as one of their own. So I'm loving it. (Bada-ba-ba-baaa...) I do miss all my friends in Dallas. But the rest of it? Not as much as I thought I would.
I'm back to waitressing, which isn't so bad. People here don't know how to tip - Five bucks on a seventy-dollar tab isn't unusual - but we stay busy enough that I still do allright at the end of the day. And, unlike waitressing in Dallas, I'm not the oldest person there! Most of my coworkers are also in their thirties, and I don't feel like quite such a dinosaur loser for not having a better job at my age.
I've seen more movies since I've moved here than I did for the last six months I was in Dallas. But what really kills me here is the local radio station. They play some good stuff, and some new stuff, but mixed in with that you also hear the song from Titanic (wasn't that song banned in '99?), and the Mm-mm-mm-mm song by Crash Test Dummies, and my personal favorite, Lost In Your Eyes by Debbie Gibson - on a Saturday night! Indeed, one of the things I do miss about Dallas is The Edge.
But luckily, the computer still works here, and I can get The Edge on Internet streaming. And I just bought two books on Amazon.com that I've been trying to find for awhile. I can see that online shopping is going to be my salvation - wish I could order a Chipotle burrito online!
But on the whole, it's not such a bad life here. Not bad at all, in fact. And now, if you'll excuse me, my little nephew is awake, and I'm going to go watch the purple rainbow monkey with him on Cartoon Network.
