Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Count Backwards from 10 -- Jay

On Monday, my wife gave blood. She does stuff like this because she likes to do good things for other people (and because it was Give-a-Pint-Get-a-Pint-of-Ice-Cream Day). I don’t do stuff like this simply because I hate needles. I hate ’em! I hate anything that…I don’t know…tears through my flesh. But on Wednesday morning I’m going in for my first-ever surgery. It’s relatively minor. I’m just getting sliced and diced to fix a hernia. No biggie. I’m fine. No really, I’m fine!

So I filled pre-op Tuesday with some cool activities to keep my mind distracted (which is a very easy thing to do).

First, I spoke to two Creative Writing classes at my old high school. In each class, I did something I’d never done at a school visit before, but I think I’ll make it a regular part of future presentations. Instead of reading the intro to Thirteen Reasons Why, I started a little further into the book…which required a second reader. So one student from each class read Hannah’s lines while I read Clay’s. The reason I never did that before is because people naturally interpret words differently, and I was afraid of hearing my words interpreted in a different way than I intended. But that’s what made it so fun! So thank you, Nicole and Kacia. Those readings were the highlights of my visit (even if Robin thought I sounded like Napoleon Dynamite while reading one of my lines -- What? No!).

Then my wife and I went back into the recording studio. First, we recorded some promotional stuff for Penguin (including, this time, having my wife read Hannah’s part). Then I recorded the final guitar parts for two of her songs. There’s this one little 11-note riff in What About Me which has always given me problems and took me about fifty takes to get it right. But it’s the funkiest and most difficult riff in all of her songs…and now it’s done. Woo-hoo!

Now I’m writing this blog post after midnight because I can’t relax enough to go to sleep. Robin, to her credit, offered to write today’s post because my day was so full. But I told her not to worry…because I knew I’d need this final distraction at the end of the day. And I was right.

Well, I love you all. I’ve loved writing these little blog posts for ya over these past two years. And I’m sure I’ll write some more. After all, it’s just a hernia. It’s a very common procedure. My wife’s boss is actually performing the surgery, and he’s a really nice guy. Steady hands. Very calm. And he knows that if he messes up…even a little bit…I’m gonna blog about it!

- Jay

12 comments:

Wild About Words said...

Jay,

Just wanted to send good wishes your way. You'll be fine. Really. And think of all the reading you'll be able to catch up on while recuperating, and all the heavy lifting you WON'T have to do around the house (except for the Wii remote control), and . . .

Take care,
Donna

Stephanie J. Blake said...

Feel better, soon!

Candace said...

Good luck with the surgery!

Disco Mermaids said...

Hey dude!

Sorry I've been out in the wilds and out of cell phone service for many days. You know I would be there to hold your hand if I could be. Remember when I did that during your Ultrasound? That was, um, awkward.

You're probably out of surgery by now and slurping down popsicles already (is that what they give you after hernia surgery??). Hope you're feeling okay.

Hey, doesn't JM work at Subway? Just because her boss can slice cold cuts doesn't mean he should be slicing up people! Just sayin'. (Kidding, people. JM's boss is a for real doctor. I think. Or at least he plays one on TV.)

See you soon!

xo
Evie

Lisa Yee said...

Is your wife's boss a doctor?

Lindsey Kate said...

Hey Jay!
Its Lindsey(aka:hms blogger)hope your surgery went well! Just recently my cousin had double hyrnia surgery he is fine now so i know you are gonna be ok!!!!
Well we can't wait for you to come to Alabama!!!!!!!! We will come see you!!!!
oh well, ok type to you like later!!!!!!!

love slapout!

CJ Omololu said...

Does this mean you're going to look different next time I see you? How will I recognize you without the hernia? Make sure you wear a red carnation just so you're easy to spot.

(I had a great line about JM's boss, but it was stolen by much quicker commentors.)

FBF!
Cyn

Disco Mermaids said...

Wow! It actually wasn't too bad. Instead of having me count backwards from 10, they had me name the seven dwarfs and I said, "Sleepy..." and I was out.

When I woke up, I had a ton of fun getting the heart rate monitor to raise and lower by thinking certain thoughts. Hospitals can be so fun!

And yes, Lisa. My wife's a nanny for the doctor's family. And I have no reason, thankfully, to include him negatively in my next book!

- Jay

Lindsey Kate said...

Glad everything went well!!!

simply_KC said...

i've been thinking a lot about donating blood but never actually done it yet. hope the surgery went well for you it sounds like you had fun at the hospital with the heart monitor too. i'm sure i would... ha ha ha. tripped over the blog from the book cover. i love it. thanks for writting it.

y said...

jay! you made it through alive!

not that we had any, uh, doubts, but.. um... right.

:]

glad you're doing okay.

Sarah Stevenson said...

Yay! Glad to hear you're alive and hernia-free!