We’ve made it to Wednesday.

This week has been weird.  Yesterday, I had another procedure on my lower back.  It basically involves burning off nerves with electrified needles, and it’s about as much fun as it sounds. At least now, my doctor has an alternate procedure facility where they give you real drugs and you’re not stone sober for the whole ordeal.  (I’m pretty much immune to Versed.  I’m pretty much also immune to lidocaine and a bunch of other allegedly effective local anesthetics.)  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had this done (I think this was #7 for this particular activity), but I’ve been mostly sober for most of those. The problem is, when they give you the real goods (Propofol), you kinda forget how much it actually hurts, until the local wears off in an hour.

The first time I had this done, it took at least a week to heal.  This time, it seems to be a lot better.  It’s still hurting, and there are still some burning sensations, but it’s bearable (especially with an ice pack).  Of course, because insurance companies do things that make total and complete sense, they could only do ONE side of my S-I joint.  So I have to go back in two weeks and pay another $638.20, when they could have just done it all at once.  I mean, I could understand if it was the first time, but at this point? I’ve never had a problem, and I’d rather just get it over with so (a) I don’t have to miss work and (b) I only have to pay one co-pay + coinsurance.  Fuck you, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma.

But today was back to normal, even though I certainly was not feeling like dressing up. I decided to go with my old faithful “jeans and a black t-shirt” ensemble:

Front view.

Back view. (My hair looks pretty excellent here, I think. Some Biolage cleansing conditioner was half price at Ulta, which is about what I pay for my usual cleansing conditioner, so I bought it. OF COURSE my hair likes the expensive shit better. OF COURSE it does. And this bottle does not last that long. If I want to keep using this, I’m going to have to give my hair a whack job.)

The shirt is from ASOS Curve several years ago.  I always have to be careful to wear a tank underneath.  If it’s windy, this makes a giant bell shape and flies over my head.  Why yes, I did learn that the hard way.  The jeans are from Torrid, and by some miracle, are still available.  Also, I paid way less than that for them, or I probably wouldn’t have purchased these particular jeans (more on this below).  The shoes are what I refer to as “doctor clogs”.  I actually got these for like $40, so it is possible not to pay full price.  Caution:  these suckers run short.  VERY short.  I’ve tried both Dansko and Sanita clogs (usually when they’re on sale cheap).  I usually wear a 41 in Euro sizes, sometimes a 42 in Danskos.  The 42’s?  Nope.  I was Cinderella’s stepsister.  I had to size up to a 43, which *allegedly* is a women’s 13.  News flash:  not in these it’s not.  Of course, that means that most of the CUTE ones with flowers and glitter don’t come in my size.  However, they are comfortable, even if they’re kinda ugly, and they don’t make my back hurt. My necklace is a cat cameo from Amazon. The chain that comes with it is really short, so I am using a 30″ ball chain. The pendant is really heavy, so it definitely needs something substantial.

On to why I probably wouldn’t have bought those jeans if they hadn’t been on way more clearance than they currently are: they’re cute. Here’s a close-up of the patches:

But, as you can also tell, these are “distressed” jeans.  I am kind of (really) over this particular trend.  I had a pair of white jeans from ASOS that I sold on Poshmark recently because I was afraid I would rip them completely open.  You had to put them on like pantyhose – bunch them all up and THEN stick your foot in.  Otherwise, your toes would get caught in the distressed parts and you might get close to tripping and falling face first into your bedroom wall (but of course I’m way more coordinated than that).

These jeans aren’t quite that bad, but I still worry about them.  The strip of denim separating the two large holes on the right leg is pretty thin, and wouldn’t take much to rip.  Aside from the possible fashion emergency issues, though, I think they just mostly look dumb.  I’ve seen some cuter ones with fishnet or sequin backing, but mostly…they’re just holes, and they’re not particularly punk or edgy.  If you’re going to be edgy, I think there are better options, especially when I’ve also seen some stupid Americana backings like flags or eyelet.

I wasn’t ever big on distressed denim, and the longer I see pages full of it on every single website, the more over it I become.  Seriously, it’s like you have to DIG for the ones that don’t have distressing and/or are not cropped to some unflattering length.   I don’t mind jeans that look broken in….but I do mind when it looks like your body parts are about to break out.