Extreme Measures Part 2

It was back at the medical center yesterday — to discuss results of the non-fast blood test and my gut issues.

I opted not to employ the extreme COVID protection measures taken at the last visit, because I’d read a woman wearing a similar mask had so frightened others that the police got involved.

That may be because the woman wore a skull face mask. I have a few of those as well, but know enough not to wear anywhere other than a cosplay event, surrounded by other likeminded horror characters.

Checking in with the receptionist at the medical center, I saw a box of surgical masks at her desk and learned us patients could have one for the asking.

I didn’t feel I needed one at the time, but you never know about later. The price on those masks have skyrocketed to hundreds of dollars, so I took advantage of the freebee.

Later, in the exam room, I had an interesting conversation with the doctor’s nurse.

While she was gathering information about nature of visit, I mentioned my food choices are now so limited that I’ve actually been bargaining with God, saying “I’ll give you a year of my life to once again be able to eat this … another year if I can eat that”.

The nurse thought it hilarious and, at the same time, frightening saying, “You’re brave. I’d be scared to talk to God like that”.

How interesting is that … to be afraid of God.

I guess it depends on what kind of God you have, what your concept of God is. I explained to the nurse that God and I have a close relationship. That even as a child, I always talked to God, felt like God was a friend, an actual presence that I could talk things over with.

I’ve never thought that to be strange, something others did not feel/do … that is until the nurse brought it to my attention by saying she’d be scared to talk to God like that ... be so familiar with, less worshipful I'm guessing.

Interesting, but doesn’t change my approach to the Infinite All. After all, it’s worked pretty well for me.

At any rate, after the office visit, while in the elevator heading to the pharmacy, I had Pokémon GO open and was collecting Poké Balls — because the center is a Poke Stop. So involved in the game that I was unaware of others in the elevator until I heard a voice say, “Oh, you play too?”

Turning, I found a young lady standing behind me, wearing one of the free COVID protection masks. She too was in the game.

We had a brief discussion about our level, how hard it now is to level up, and that was that until I saw she too was in line at the pharmacy. Something prompted me to introduce myself, find out her name, shake her hand.

After placing her pharmacy order, she sat next to me. We didn’t talk, just continued to play, until suddenly I remembered a challenge I’ve yet to complete.

There is a character in the game called The Professor … Professor Willow to be exact. He’s uber handsome and gives us quests to complete for extra points.

A quest I’ve been unable to complete thus far, among others, was “Find three new friends”.

Finding and adding friends lets you build relationships in the game world that enables you to gain extra Premier Balls for Raids, attack bonuses for Gym battles, trade Pokémon, and receive Gifts containing items.

Though you don’t necessarily have to have real world contact with those friends, I can’t imagine finding other players to friend unless you do know them and know they play the game. What few friends I have are two former coworkers, their children, the Archeologists, her son and daughter. No one around here plays, no one in my family plays, so finding one new friend seemed an insurmountable task for me, let along THREE. The quest has been stuck in the queue for over a year.

Remembering it, I turned to the young lady and asked, “Do you want to be friends?”.

She did indeed, as it would also benefit her in the game, so I coded her in.

That’s ONE!

She asked if she could share my code with her brother-in-law and another acquaintance of hers.

I did and, by the end of the day, I had the required THREE.

Other than interacting with her avatar in the game, I'll probably never run into her again, nor get to know the other two individuals outside their avatars, but what a serendipitous elevator ride.

It’s back to the medical center in two weeks for a consultation with the specialists. Hopefully this is the road to once again being able to eat the this/that I was bargaining for. I’ll gladly hold up my end of the bargain … give up a year or two or three.