Well there’s nothing quite like having your entire life handwritten on eight pages with a lovely black fountain pen and then read back to you – well, the nutshell version of it. Actually, there’s nothing quite like having this happen at 9am, just before work on a Wednesday, a week before your 41st birthday and then having to pay $370 an hour. How do you like them apples?
Seriously, there’s nothing quite like it.
So here’s how the conversation went:
The $370 man: So, Betty, tell me what’s going on.
Me: Oh, well not much. I haven’t had breakfast yet.
The $370 man: No, Betty, not today. In general.
Me: Oh, didn’t The $195 man write you a letter?
The $370 man: Sure, sure, but in your own words.
One hour later…
The $370 man (into his Madonna Vogue microphone): And that’s why I would recommend a blah blah blah dose of Lithium.
Me (in my head, not out loud): LITHIUM? What the fuck, chuck? Isn’t that what Kurt Cobain sang about? And we all know what happened to him. Although it can’t be worse than… Oh ssh.
The $370 man: Ok. I’ll have this letter sent to The $195 man today.
Me: Well thanks. I feel better already.
How DO you like them apples?
PS. Did you know that the use of lithium salts to treat mania* was rediscovered by the Australian psychiatrist John Cade in 1949. Yes, a local. He was injecting rodents with urine extracts taken from schizophrenic patients,** in an attempt to isolate a metabolic compound which might be causing mental symptoms.*** But before that, it was the medicinal ingredient of a refreshment beverage, 7 Up.
*I don’t REALLY have mania** I am NOT schizophrenic
*** I MAY have mental symptoms. Of sorts.