Slowly, so slowly

2004-01-21 - 9:40 p.m.

I just watched a documentary on PBS about Alzheimer's disease. What a scary and depressing disease. I worry about it all the time. My dad's mom died of a dementia-related disease, which my grandfather swears wasn't Alzheimer's but I have no idea what else it could've been. It was horrible. I have vague memories of my grandmother with a personality, but not really. She went from forgetful to really loopy to upset and angry all the time to an empty husk. What really worries me, though, is that it might happen to my dad. He has memory issues and word recall issues and sometimes he does weird things and when I ask him why he's doing it he doesn't know. It scares me and I don't know what to do about it. How do I suggest that I think he might be becoming demented? I know the mini-mental exam that doctors use to assess for dementia, but I certainly can't ask him those questions or have him do those things with explaining why. So I guess I'll just let it go and hope that I'm wrong.

So this morning I slept in until 9:30 and then I got up and rode my bike around the neighborhood for about half an hour. I went a little over six miles and I don't think this bike riding thing is getting any easier. It's practically as tiring as going for a jog. Other than that I mostly wasted my time all day. I did do some studying, so that's good. I feel like I'm starting to be slightly more ready for the exam than before, but I'm still not there yet.

I mentioned yesterday that I bid on some books at Swappingtons. Someone had posted all three books in a trilogy and I wanted all three but I only had enough points for the first two. So I bid on the first two and I figured I could always just buy the third one later. I got an e-mail last night saying that this person had accepted my bids. Not only that, but they are sending me the third book as well, free of charge. Sometimes I am completely blown away by the generosity of people.

Oh, and on a random look-how-nerdy-I-am note, today while I was talking to Flik, somehow the subject of Star Trek came up. One thing led to another and I ended up admitting to her that I used to have a crush on Commander Riker. Somehow its easier admitting to that now that a good ten years have passed since then. But anyway, I was expecting some sort of light hearted derision from Flik, but instead she said, "That's nothing, I had a crush on Worf. At least your guy was human." Imagining Flik wrapped lovingly in Worf's burly arms was enough for a pretty good laugh. And speaking of Star Trek randomness, did you know that Wil Wheaton has his own blog? Yeah. And did you know Wil Wheaton is 30?? In my mind he'll always be 16.