Today’s soundtrack: I go out walkin’, after midnight
Today at 11:02pm: Trying to get to bed early.

Last Wednesday I was lying in my boxers reading Newsweek when I noticed a mosquite bite on my torso. At least, that’s what I thought it was. It hurt when I pressed on it.

The next day the red mark had gotten a little bigger, perhaps the size of a dime. I dismissed it and read with interest an article about events happening many miles away from me.

The day after I took my Hapkido test, which is a physically grueling event. Showering off afterwards, I made an unpleasant discovery; the “mosquite bite” had swelled to the size of a half-dollar and the area around it was tender. I didn’t know what the fuck it was and I don’t have health insurance.

I tried to ignore it for three days, along with articles I’d read about West Nile virus.

This morning I got health insurance. Still not sure how I’m gonna pay for it. Health insurance is a weird concept; if I get hit by a taxi or jumped by a crackhead, some company in Nebraska’s got my back.

Came home from work today, took my clothes off and examined the unwelcome hard lump on my torso. My first instinct was to lance it (I know, gross). Then I was like, wait a minute: Macintosh computers are the easiest in the world to use, and two days ago I crashed one trying to install a fucking font--and now I’m gonna do self-surgery? Right. Maybe I’ll give myself a colonoscopy while I’m at it.


ROOMMATE: The fuck are you doing?

ME: Looking for polyups. Why don’t you mind your own business.

Got dressed, pulled some sneakers on and started walking to the hospital. This is corny but sometimes when I’m trying to go to sleep at night I feel pretty alone in the world. I mean I have friends, and I see people during the day but you know what I mean. Anyways as I walked I started getting that feeling and I even got a little scared. I told myself to stop being a fucking pussy, just keep walking.

I dislike hospitals because I used to work in one, sort of (I drove an ambulance during my college dropout phase). The E/R was pretty dead this evening, which was good news. In New York you gotta pick your hospitals carefully. A Chinese nurse with a slight moustache triaged me and sent me to Registration.

A Latino girl went over my registration with me. Everyone called her “Millie” but I saw her nametag said “Milagro.” Although not unpretty, Milagro was one of those people who’s rather round, constructed almost entirely of spheres. A beach-ball shape for her stomach, two melon-sized spheres for breasts, two voluminous spheres for buttocks. I thought to myself that she would be easy to model using 3-D software.

I was sent to an examination room, where I waited and thought about my position in this world. Some things made me feel good and a few made me feel bad. At length a doctor appeared. He looked like an as-yet-unseen Baldwin brother, somewhere between Alec and Daniel.

He asked me some questions, then I pulled my shirt up and he checked out the lump. In under a minute he had his prognosis.

“It appears you had an infection,” he said. “Underneath the skin. It’s in the process of healing itself now.”

“Oh,” I said.

“The human skin is actually covered in bacteria, but it usually doesn’t have an entry point. You must have had a scratch or a cut, might have been a mosquito bite. For whatever reason something got in and got infected, but the skin healed itself first, trapping the infection and cuasing an abcess.”

“I see.”

“What you need to do is put a warm compress on the area, which will stimulate the blood flow. Your body’s blood will naturally break up the abcess and disperse it into waste. Should clear up in a few days. If it doesn’t, call us.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I walked out through the waiting room, where a Chinese family was apparently waiting to hear some results about a family member. Millie was gone. A dark-skinned security guard stood at his post, clearly bored.

On the sidewalk I produced my cell phone and returned a call to Lam. He invited me to grab some chow with him and Michelle and Tony in Chinatown tonight, so I set a course for Pell Street, choosing the best route. The thing I like about New York is that geographically, at least, I’m always sure of my position.