from these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be

    This is the newest in a recurring series called The Interview Game, the first of which was conducted by Michael and posted here. These questions were proposed by my former colleague, The Intern, with whom I play The Hashtag Game - described here.

    Questions are always welcome, to appear in future posts. Add in the comments or send them directly to me by private message.

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1. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. 

Almost four years ago, I was hired in the department where I currently work. The new job involved a decent raise. I spent the equivalent of that year's raise on five pairs of shoes. One is now my favorite pair: rich burgundy Kenneth Cole velvet slides, topped with a big floppy bow. They are decadent, frivolous, feminine, luxurious, and perfectly comfortable. I cannot wear them outside (weather would destroy the velvet), it is a challenge to find appropriate clothing to wear with them (a certain degree of sophistication is necessary, but so too is some devil-may-care insouciance), and I cannot wear them too often for fear of over-exposure; the last thing I want is for them to become commonplace!

2. How are you sleeping? 

Off and on the last two weeks I have been battling with my insurance company - with the help of my primary care physician, Dr. B - for coverage of a new migraine prevention prescription. A once-per-month injection, it would completely change my medication routine. The controversy: my insurance will not pay it until my doctor consults with a neurologist or headache specialist. He referred me to Neurology. They will not see me while I am taking one of the two pain relieving prescriptions that I was on, because of the theoretical tendency toward rebound headaches and the abuse of medication. I have to stop taking that medicine for 8 weeks, and track my headaches, before Neurology will accept the referral. At that point, they will consult with my doctor. And then, my doctor can resubmit the request for my insurance company to review their denial of my claim for the medication to be pre-approved. Bureaucracy!

    This is relevant because the two prescription medications that I'm taking now to prevent migraines each have an effect on how well I sleep. If I don't take them, or don't take them at the right time of day, they keep me up or screw with my sleep. On the other hand, if I take them on the same routine, I sleep like the dead. That is one really good thing about working from home and having zero social life: a routine is easy to follow. If I get the new medicine, there is hope that with fewer overall medications (particularly the pain relievers), I will feel healthier and get even better sleep.

    I generally sleep from 9:30 or 10:PM until 6:30 on weekdays, and maybe 11:PM to 7:AM on weekends. When the neighbor to the east has no lawn-care or canine issues, I can sometimes manage to remain unconscious until 8:00 on weekends, and often take an hour or two nap midday. By comparison, I can comfortably sleep 10 hours every day when I'm not working, though it generally skews from later at night to later in the morning.

3. What will you do with your hair when it goes grey?  

My childhood BFF, who is fighting cancer, recently shaved her head. I might just do the same. Rather than trying to "ease in" the silvery bits, just let it happen all at once.

4. Who do you wish heard what you were thinking? 

That depends! Some of what goes on in my mind is not fit for human consumption. Most of it is dull or inane - though for the right person in the right mood, that might be amusing or interesting enough. There are moments that I wish could be shared, if it were as easy as tugging out one earbud and sharing it with someone else. 

    If it had to be all or nothing, I would choose nothing. 

    If I had to choose someone, though, to hear what I'm thinking some of the time—it would be DG.

5. Is this real? 

Of course it's real! 

#initforlife

 

[the title quotation is by Lord Byron, from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and reads in its entirety:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is a society where none intrudes,

By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:

I love not Man the less, but Nature more,

From these our interviews, in which I steal

From all I may be, or have been before,

To mingle with the Universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.]