Entirely by the way, I have changed my anagrammed psuedonym from the wimpy "Albert Wire" to the enigmatic "Warble Rite" on medical advice. I reserve the right to make future changes.
I've been busy with not writing, but I have managed to put in some words on my China Journal blog. This writing thingummy is fun, but I need more discipline. Lots more discipline.
I had a bizarre experience the other day (Tuesday). My wife and I are getting some new life insurance and we have to undergo a battery of tests for that. In this convenient age, the doctor comes to you, rather than the other way around, and a doctor had visited me on Monday night to poke and probe my chest and stomach and tut-tut over my blood pressure and my weight. For my wife, a lady doctor was scheduled to visit us at 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday.
I was sitting comfortably in my living room, reading the morning newspaper when the lady doctor was announced. She came bounding into the room and without so much as a "Good morning," she cast a jovial eye in my direction and addressed me by my childhood nickname, which is a source of reasonable embarassment, like most childhood nicknames. As far as I was aware, I had never met the lady in my life, so I did the only possible thing: I gaped.
She gave me her name, which enlightened me not at all, and then proceeded to explain to my wife that I had been the absolutely cutest baby she had ever encountered in her life and that I continued to hold the title of cutest baby ever, as far as she was concerned. She gushed that she used to make it a point to visit our house each evening so that she could "pet me" - her words. Apparently she had grown up next door to us, and being a decade or so older, had been enamoured of my cuteness as a baby, and need a daily fix of "petting" yours truly.
Well, when you're middle-aged, balding and tending to flab, to be told that you were cute by a complete stranger and that neighborhood girls would fight to pet you on a daily basis is a tremendous boost. When the neighborhood girl is now a lady doctor and still remembers your sex appeal with wistful nostalgia... I now scoff at movie stars and rock musicians: their fan clubs have nothing on mine!
