Another Room Change

This makes five different rooms in a little over a week. This time it was a slight upgrade because I'm in the window bed.















(That's the Boston side of the Zakim Bridge. The balloon comes from the massive fruit bouquet that my relatives in Connecticut sent. Thank you.)

This roommate is another one of the hard-of-hearing and fall-asleep-while-watching-TV variety, but he told me to let him know if it was too loud, so hopefully we'll work out a tacit understanding. The question is, when is it fair for me to ask him to turn it down, just because the show he's watching is getting on my nerves? It's kind of like living with Mimi, although for the most part people here complain about their health problems a little less. ;)

My previous roommate might have been my favorite. He has a swollen face that makes him look like he's constantly scowling, he swears like a sailor, and he never got my name right. We didn't talk much. I liked him because for all the pain in his life right now (he always answered 10 when the nurses asked him what his pain level was) he never took it out on anyone else. He was exceedingly complimentary to the nurses and the aides, almost but not quite to the point of chauvinism. This is a lesson for me, because I've snapped at my dad a couple times when I shouldn't have. I also liked him because he didn't watch much TV. This is not just selfishness on my part, I think. I get really annoyed when people--especially old people--watch TV purely for the easy visual and auditory and narrative stimulation. Or for the company. It may LOOK like you're old and waiting to die, but don't abandon all pretense of actually directing your own life instead of having it piped to you through cables. I hate lazy TV watching in other people because I do it myself sometimes, and always hate myself after.

Anyway, he came down with some kind of infection, which is why they had to move me out of the room. It was kind of sudden when they told me, so I didn't get to say goodbye and get well soon, which is the least I could do to be civil. The age difference between me and all of these guys is kind of a barrier.