Anna, from the Deitrich Institute or whatever they are called, called this morning to inform me that my medical records came back and indicated that I have never been "diagnosed" with urinary incontinence, and so I was not qualified for the study.
"So, I should stop taking the placebo or whatever it is?"
"Yes."
So, there goes the chance to make fifty bucks every ten days....
If I let thirty days elapse, though, I will be able to participate in their "eczema" study.
That, is something that I have been diagnosed with -by a dermatologist in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in the mid eighties, and before that, by the army doctors at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, who had actually informed me that I could have gotten out of the service on a medical "profile" because of it.
I may even have started getting a check for something like five hundred bucks every month for the rest of my life.
There is no use speculating upon how this may have changed the course of my life.
I did meet a guy in Phoenix, who was fifty years old, and had been getting such a check since he had been eighteen years old.
According to him, he came down with a bout of "depression" when he was in boot camp; he didn't want to get out of his bunk, wouldn't respond to reveille and was, I guess, just too sad to go out and kill people.
So, I guess they figured that the five hundred a month was a cheap way to get rid of him.
But, at the age of nineteen, I had a strong desire to not be "broken" by the whole basic training experience. I really thought that if I were to quit, then I would be a quitter for the rest of my life, type of thing, and it would bother me more than fife hundred dollars a month could ever compensate for.
So, I told my superior, "No," I didn't want to get out on a medical profile, even though I could have. I was tougher than that. Or maybe more stupid than that, who knows.
Perhaps my buddy in Phoenix enlisted with the sole intent of pulling that stunt in order to skeeze a check out of Uncle Sam.
I wouldn't put it past him. He was a walking reference to "Accouterments for the Homeless in all fifty states."
He was telling me where the homeless guy should go to get everything from eye glasses "Casper, Wyoming has this homeless shelter where they can set you up for an eye exam and..." to dental work (Tampa Bay, Florida, I think that was -the place to be if you need crowns and caps, or something).
He may have been a faker, but I know I couldn't have stayed motionless in a rice paddy with water up to my neck if there were flies landing on the hypersensitive skin of my forehead. I would have had to scratch myself and given my position away to the enemy, who would have certainly cured my eczema, along with the eczema of the rest of my platoon LOL!
But, that is the news on this Thursday, August 23rd.
The new strings might be in my mailbox, I didn't check on my way out the door to come here to the Uxi Duxi.
"So, I should stop taking the placebo or whatever it is?"
"Yes."
So, there goes the chance to make fifty bucks every ten days....
If I let thirty days elapse, though, I will be able to participate in their "eczema" study.
That, is something that I have been diagnosed with -by a dermatologist in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in the mid eighties, and before that, by the army doctors at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, who had actually informed me that I could have gotten out of the service on a medical "profile" because of it.
I may even have started getting a check for something like five hundred bucks every month for the rest of my life.
There is no use speculating upon how this may have changed the course of my life.
I did meet a guy in Phoenix, who was fifty years old, and had been getting such a check since he had been eighteen years old.
According to him, he came down with a bout of "depression" when he was in boot camp; he didn't want to get out of his bunk, wouldn't respond to reveille and was, I guess, just too sad to go out and kill people.
So, I guess they figured that the five hundred a month was a cheap way to get rid of him.
 |
| I would give this caricaturist a D + |
But, at the age of nineteen, I had a strong desire to not be "broken" by the whole basic training experience. I really thought that if I were to quit, then I would be a quitter for the rest of my life, type of thing, and it would bother me more than fife hundred dollars a month could ever compensate for.
So, I told my superior, "No," I didn't want to get out on a medical profile, even though I could have. I was tougher than that. Or maybe more stupid than that, who knows.
 |
| In an all-out offensive, the average life span |
| of a combat medic is 11 seconds |
Perhaps my buddy in Phoenix enlisted with the sole intent of pulling that stunt in order to skeeze a check out of Uncle Sam.
I wouldn't put it past him. He was a walking reference to "Accouterments for the Homeless in all fifty states."
He was telling me where the homeless guy should go to get everything from eye glasses "Casper, Wyoming has this homeless shelter where they can set you up for an eye exam and..." to dental work (Tampa Bay, Florida, I think that was -the place to be if you need crowns and caps, or something).
He may have been a faker, but I know I couldn't have stayed motionless in a rice paddy with water up to my neck if there were flies landing on the hypersensitive skin of my forehead. I would have had to scratch myself and given my position away to the enemy, who would have certainly cured my eczema, along with the eczema of the rest of my platoon LOL!
But, that is the news on this Thursday, August 23rd.
The new strings might be in my mailbox, I didn't check on my way out the door to come here to the Uxi Duxi.
How much did that "caricaturist" get for that lovely piece of art?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I should get out the sketch pad and china marker and give myself 5 minutes and see how well I could do? I'd draw the same kid, from the photo, making her holding a surfboard because of the arm placement.
I think if I were going to launch into this cruel world as a caricaturist, I'd have to force myself to draw, say, at least 10 "heads" a day and maybe more than that, because as I've been told, "A lot of bad ones have to come out first before you start getting the good ones".
And the sheer sin of sloth is the only reason I've not already done this because I have the art materials, and now many places with tons of families, and it'd cost me next to nothing to go out and draw "free" caricatures (tips appreciated!) and as one caricaturist has noted, "after a couple of hours you've learned a bit and have $60 or so in your pocket" it's like being paid to go to school.