the underwear drawer

it's getting cold in herrre

Holy crap, when did it start getting so cold outside? Today is beautiful, but freezing. It's the kind of day they depict on the covers of college brochures, or possibly J. Crew catalogues pimping the NEW FALL LINE, exhorting you to FALL IN LOVE with a CRISP, TWEED JACKET, an ITALIAN CASHMERE SWEATER, and a NEW FALL COAT with VINTAGE DETAILS. Can I mention, by the way, how much I love it that the flagship item of the new preppier than prep-school J. Crew fall line is called "The Wellesley Cable Sweater"?

I had an anxiety dream about starting in the PICU last night. It should be noted that I get anxious every four weeks when I'm about to switch to a new rotation, even if it's a rotation that I've done before. I get all nervous and obsessive, and have trouble falling asleep the night before. Yes, well, anyway--in this dream I showed up for my first day in the PICU, only I forgot that I was on call the first day (this is true by the way, I am on call tomorrow) and thus forgot to dress appropriately. In the dream, I believe I was wearing a skirt, and had my contacts in instead of my glasses. So this started me a-fussin', because I need to start off the day in the right mindset to take call, and now I was all screwed up. And then I remembered that I wasn't actually allowed to leave the PICU at any point during the day, and had neglected to bring myself food for lunch and dinner. "So what do you do if you don't have any food?" I asked my senior resident, who had been on call the night before. "Nothing," she answered casually. "You just don't eat." And this made me absolutely crazy, because there is nothing that will panic me more than the prospect of NO FOOD. Residents are like primative animals, in some ways. We would kill for food and a nap. Or at least for a stale bagel and three minutes of pager-silence during which I can lay my head on a countertop, all restful-like. Finally, in my dream, I realized that it was only Sunday and I was having yet another in a lifelong series of anxiety dreams, and that I should just chill out already and just enjoy my last free weekend for a month instead of being such a freak.

Today we headed on over to Chelsea to visit the new Home Depot that just opened up. A Home Depot in Manhattan. Some people said it couldn't be done. Well, those people were cowards. We bought some lightbulbs and batteries, the size of our purchases hardly justifying the fuss of fighting our way into the store and elbowing through the determined throng of home-improvers. "Quick, Annette, to the power tools!" We paid for our purchases using the self-serve checkout line, which was a little confusing for us, but satisfying in the end, feeding items past the laser window and hearing the accepting beep. It's hard to find the barcodes on some things. I have new respect for the people who work the supermarket checkout lines.

Currently reading: "Angels and Demons." Gee, do you think Langdon and Vittoria will save the Vatican from being annihilated before the power for the antimatter containment field runs out? And will they have crazed monkey sex in the end? The suspense, she is killing me!