Neurofibroma

Remember when I mentioned the bump on my nose, and how badly I wanted to get rid of it? A few months ago a friend of mine gave me the name and number of a dermatologist that her boss had highly recommended. I copied the information on to a sticky note, folded it in half, and tucked it behind the cover of my cell phone. For months I could see the yellow piece of paper through the cover each time I looked at the back of my phone, but I hesitated to make the call - assuming that my lack of health insurance would ensure a large chunk of cash would have to exit my bank account to make the removal possible.

As time went on I got more impatient. This bump has not been on my face my whole life; I first remember it making an appearance somewhere around 2004, and it continued to grow slowly each year. I didn't worry about it too much at first, I thought it may be a wart, and warts can supposedly go away on their own once the virus has run its course. I hoped this would be the case for me when I left for South America in 2006. When I returned to the USA in late 2007 the bump was bigger, and I decided it was time to try a home wart remover. It didn't work, so I left it alone again.

Children found the bump on my nose fascinating. I mean, how could they not notice it? Kids would often ask what was on my nose, and some would even reach out to touch it. I didn't mind- it was just their curiosity. What I did mind was when of my friends' kids - who is old enough to have manners - started being mean about it. He would be sure to point it out every time he saw me, and just be a little brat about it. Worse? His mom seemed to purposefully ignore him when he started teasing, and one time his dad overheard the kid call me a witch, and he laughed. Really?? What happened to teaching your kids to be kind and polite? Annoying.

Last month I finally decided to call the dermatologists and set up a free consultation. I figured I could at least find out how much money I needed to start saving to make my nose look normal again. So, one week before Halloween I skipped out of work for a couple hours and went to my appointment. The doctor looked at my nose, said she didn't think it was anything to be worried about (as in, it looked non-cancerous), and told me how much it would cost for the procedure and lab work. Surprisingly, it really wasn't that expensive, and she said she could do it right then! 15 minutes later I was bump-free and had a band-aid stuck over my half-numb nose. I love it.

Fly Away!

I noticed I haven't been dedicating much time to my blogs lately. I was wondering why I haven't sat down and written anything, and I think I'm afraid of posting something boring. Right now my life consists of work and aerial acrobatics, and that's about it. I LOVE talking about aerial stuff and telling people about the progress I've made and the fun things I do with my friends that I've made while training, but I quickly noticed that when I talk to people who don't have any experience with aerial acrobatics they almost instantly tune out. I also think that my online audience has dwindled a lot over the last year, which is fine, but it's hard to find the motivation to write when I feel like no one's going to read it anyway.

Maybe I'll think of something interesting or witty to say one of these days, but for now I'm going to get ready for bed, dream about flying, and let the stress of my week go as I soar through the air tomorrow morning!

Just for kicks, I leave you with the wonderful words of Aerosmith in "Fly Away From Here":

Gotta find a way
Yeah, I can't wait another day
And nothin' gonna change
If we stay around here
Gotta do what it takes
Cause all in our hands,
We all make mistakes, yeah
But it's never too late to start again
Take another breath
And say another prayer

Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Yeah, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly

If this life
Gets any harder now
It ain't no nevermind
You got me by your side
And anytime you want
Yeah, we can catch a train and find a better place
Yeah, cause we won't let nothin' or no one keep gettin' us down
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and hit the sky

Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Yeah, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly

Do you see a bluer sky now
You can have a better life now
Open your eyes
Cause no one here can ever stop us
They can try but we won't let them
No way

Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and say goodbye

Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Honey, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Fly away from here
Yeah, anywhere
Honey, I don't, I don't, I don't care

We'll just fly away

Don't Mind Our Dust...

The parking lot of the office complex where I work is getting a makeover. I don't mind having to park farther away in the neighboring restaurant's parking lot for the week, and I can handle the Latin-born workers' intense stares as I walk in and out of the building (thank you, Uruguay for all your training), but the random rumbling and shaking of the building as they scrape off the old layer of asphalt is going to kill me! No matter how consistently I feel it I still get the urge to duck and cover beneath my desk as I try to remind myself that it is NOT an earthquake...

Pulled Over

I consider myself a good driver. I have only been in one accident (which wasn't my fault), and I have never gotten a speeding ticket. But that doesn't mean I've never been pulled over; I have been pulled over 5 times - all within the last 4 years. You may be thinking that I am a mastermind of escaping speeding tickets but that would be wrong... I have never been pulled over for speeding, it's always something crazy!

First Time - Burnt out brake light. Not a big deal, but I was on my way to a meeting and would have been on time if there wasn't a new cop in training who took FORTY-FIVE minutes to write up a fix-it ticket... I ended up being 30 minutes late. I think they could only spare that much time to let the newbie practice because it was a Sunday. They must have been bored.

Second Time - Obstruction of view. I had a small Uruguayan flag hanging below my rear view mirror. Again, this was on a Sunday when the cops were bored. I pulled it down and he let me go.

Third Time - Registration not quite expired. I had Colorado plates while going to school in Vegas, and a motorcycle cop pulled me over to remind me that my tags were expiring at the end of the month. I was honestly able to tell him that I had spoken with my dad about my tags the day before and was waiting for the new ones to be mailed to me.

Fourth Time - Burnt out licence plate light (I REALLY think cops love to target me when they're bored). I was driving a friend home from a church dance at 1am. The cop asked me where I'd been, where I was going, and if I had been drinking....as I was thinking "I'm 25, don't have a curfew, and made a complete stop at the last stop sign..." It's like he was trying (unsuccessfully) to find a reason to keep me pulled over. Three years later and I still haven't fixed this light. No one else seems to have a problem with it.

Fifth Time - Missing registration stickers. I was VERY confused as to why the highway patrolman started tailing me before flipping on his lights. Of course this would happen the ONE day I was trying to get to work early. Turned out someone stole my registration stickers off of my licence plate! I had proof of registration, etc. So I got a fix it ticket and paid $18 at the DMV for a replacement sticker. The cop told me how to prevent this in the future by taking a razor blade to the sticker once it's on my license plate so that it can't come off in one piece for a thief. Go, go, ghetto cop!!

I swear - it's always the strangest things.

So This One Time When I Was 28...

I dyed my hair pink.