Transplanted Life
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
 
Miscellaneous thoughts
Back to work today, just a little tired from not getting back to sleep unitl three this morning. For some reason the seven hours of sleep I got yesterday afternoon and evening (more than I generally get on a weekday) don't count today, so I was dragging much of the morning. I transfered a couple of calls wrong, which just made me feel stupid - three months ago I'd have been one of the people they transfered the calls to, and now I can't even handle the phone. Not that I was ever very good with phones, but, still...

Well, maybe. It's been so long since I've done serious programming that I'm not sure I'd be cut out for here. I could handle Jen's work, which is basically web-based reporting, but some of the other stuff you almost need a double-Master's for. Marcello is building search algorithms for the human genome, Dimitri and John are working on the control software for a device to track (and record data from) single-cell-sized probes injected into the bloodstream, Janet and Frank are working on an improved organ-donor database, Dave and three other folks are designing a "virtual cell"... Sophisticated stuff. I've been trying to poke around these projects, see if any of them could have anything to do with how Michelle swapped with me, but this stuff is so far over my head that it might as well be, well, magic. I wish I could talk to Mags or Wei about some of it - they'd be about a million times more likely to see something significant than I would.

Of course, I miss obvious things, too. Jen said she was glad I was feeling better today, especially since the last time she got that sick, her boyfriend nearly panicked. I didn't get what she meant until I was heading out for lunch. I laughed, figuring that since I'm on the pill and Kurt used a condom it was no big deal and, besides, women don't get morning sickness less than a week after conception, do they...?

Well, a quick stop and CVS and some time in the bathroom after eating has answered that one with a "No", I just had some bug. Biggest relief of my life - I doubt even getting back into my own body will feel as good as learning I'm not pregnant. Makes you think, though.

For instance, Mags and I broke up because when her period was late, it seemed like we both were afraid of her being pregnant. When we found out she wasn't, I was elated, and she was relieved, but... She also was somewhat disappointed. She'd had to face the possibility, and looking inside herself, had evidently decided she could handle it, but maybe I couldn't. I thought, at the time, that I probably could, but in the five minutes I was really taking the idea seriously today, I didn't think I'd be up to it.

On a lighter note, I'm amazed how easy buying "feminine care" products has become. I'd always gotten squirmy when a girlfriend had asked me to pick something up, even though none of them seemed phased by razors, shaving cream, condoms, or athlete's foot stuff (looking at the list, it doesn't look nearly as embarrassing as the metaphor requires). I thought I was going to die the first time I bought panty-liners, and getting the birth-control perscription refilled was almost scarier than waking up in Michelle's body in the first place. But now, it's gotten to be like buying toothpaste or deodorant. You just do it because that stuff is part of you, and if it's not tended to, it's uncomfortable.

That said, I still don't see the need to advertise it on television. Even if I can use the stuff, I don't need to be reminded of menstruation during Law & Order.

-Marti
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Note: This blog is a work of fantasy; all characters are either ficticious or used ficticiously. The author may be contacted at JaySeaver@comcast.net