Pride and Pokiness -- Robin

I have to take a moment to publicly thank Jay and Eve for dropping everything this past week to help me meet a deadline. I needed to get the first three chapters and a synopsis of my YA novel to my agent by Friday. And for me, just the thought of writing a synopsis makes me break out in hives, so I was desperate.

They came through for me more than I could have imagined. And we even had time to go out to dinner. Thanks, you guys. You make me proud. –sniff-

On Friday morning, I turned in my chapters and synopsis, turned off my computer, and decided I would take care of myself. Since I’d been suffering from excessive-revising-nerve-impingement-disorder (also known as pain-in-the-neck), I went to get some acupuncture.

Let me start by telling you that I’ve never had acupuncture before. The poking didn’t hurt (except for a couple that felt like eyebrow plucks) and I didn’t even mind the flame-filled glass suction cups she put on afterwards...which is just plain weird.

But afterwards, I had a reaction that I’m told is rare. It was as if the needles sent a message to my brain to block the pain, and suddenly I felt like I was on a heavy dose of vicodin. (I only know what that feels like because I had all my wisdom teeth pulled. Promise!) Not realizing I was going to have this reaction, I scheduled a lunch date with Jay for right after the acupuncture.

We were to meet downtown and walk to a restaurant. When he was just a couple of blocks away, he called me on his cell phone. “I can see you!” He waved at me, not knowing the shape I was in. “Go ahead and cross the street. The light’s green.”

“I…can’t…”
“No, it’s green, it’s safe. You can cross the street.”
“But…I…can’t…”
“Robin, just cross the street! What’s wrong?”
“I…can’t…think…straight.”

I finally figured out how to cross the street, explained to him what happened, and asked him to do all the talking at lunch since I was in no shape to carry on a conversation. “Nope,” he said. “This is going to be fun.”

So most of lunch was spent with me asking if my shoes were untied and if there were spiders crawling up my back.

But I’m back to my usual self now and it’s back to writing! I made an acupuncture appointment for next Friday, but I think I’ll skip the lunch date.

- Robin