"If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that's read by people who move their lips when they're reading to themselves." - Don Marquis

From my niece's Facebook page.

Only one person used the comment section in last night's post to suggest a caption for the picture. That individual, identified only as "anonymous," is a lot more righteous than I.

Ten years ago the Europeans launched a satellite that today touched down on a comet somewhere way out there. They say the comet is 5 billion years old (how do they know that??) and the data sent back will help scientists unravel the mysteries of how our solar system was formed.

I have some questions.

1. How much money has been spent on this project and what will the finally tally be when this satellite meets whatever end finally befalls objects sitting on comets? 
2. Can that total, which has to be...wait for it...astronomical be justified in the light of issues considerably closer to home that could be effectively addressed if funds were made available? I'm thinking of things like potable water for the billion or so people who lack it and have stupid high infant mortality rates as a result, all of which could be ended if they had wells. How about vaccination programs in developing countries so children didn't die from diseases we've all but forgotten about?
3. How do they know this satellite will unlock mysteries if they don't know what they'll find? What if this thing turns out to be nothing more than the same kind of rock you've got in your back yard? Although I suspect in a few months we'll hear about the wondrous things they've learned (can you spell justification?) and the word water will appear somewhere in their hypotheses about origins. 

Of course, I've got easier and much less expensive ideas about how the universe came to be that don't require billions of dollars and 10-year journeys to whizzing rocks. The nightstand drawer in a cheap hotel will do just fine. 

Late this morning I went down to ADCO, where I took the auto body classes, and bought the supplies for painting the cab - sealer, both colors, and clear coat. All three layers (multiple coats of color and clear) have to go on in succession, with only enough time allowed in between the two colors to mask of the lines where they meet. If you delay too long between any of those layers the next one won't adhere properly. 

I plan to be painting by about 9 a.m. tomorrow and be finished before the sun sets. I have NO idea what I'm doing. And unlike the three layers sprayed on before these, there's no sanding out runs, drips, or errors. This is where it all counts and everything shows. 

No pressure.

Speaking of pressure, I've been using a special elasticized tape to hold the gauze tightly over the open wound on my cheek, a hole about 2" in diameter. The layer of gauze next to that wound gets coated in Vaseline so the wound can't scab over an heal. That's was so that if the dermatologist had to go back in to take more tissue he'd have soft flesh to work with. 

I got the call late yesterday that the biopsy results came back clear; he got it all the first time. 

T'ank you, Fadder.

Expected news, given that by his own admission he was especially aggressive in his excision, but good to hear nonetheless. 

Next stop, the plastic surgeon who will do the graft to close this up.

Octavia, from the surgeon's office (is she really the eighth child?) called me while I was at ADCO to say I was on the schedule for next Wednesday. 

AAARGH.

For a complicated set of reasons that's the one day next week I cannot have it done. Just can't be. When I told her that she gave an exasperated sigh and started mumbling. That's the only opening she has next week. The following week is Thanksgiving and the dr. will be gone all week, which means it's pushed into ... December!

It's not my fault. Really, it isn't. I was told by both the dermatologist and the surgeon that it would happen this week, so I figured I could safely schedule something on Wednesday. C'mon. 

She said she'd try to find a way to squeeze me in next week, Friday, but it didn't look possible to her. 

So, we wait. And I'm now afraid of Octavia.

Meanwhile, I asked if it was necessary to keep this an open wound. "Yes, the dr. will want soft tissue to work with." A little  more conversation and I learned that the verbal (only) wound instructions the dermatologist gave me were NOT appropriate. I should be washing it out 3x a day, I should not be using Vaseline, I should be using an antibiotic ointment, and I should be using a special kind of non-stick pad agains the wound. So tonight's to-do list includes cleaning out this gaping hole in my cheek and the area around it. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that! 

I did get one other bit of feedback from last night's post. Someone sent me an email to say they asked their teenage son if he knew what to do at the end of the meal with a date. "Pay the bill." When pressed further he, too, did not know about tipping. 

That makes me feel a little better, but only a little. She is, after all, a homeschooler, and nobody expects their kids to have social skills.