Huh? And HP

Went to the doctor today, with a list of symptoms that have been steadily getting worse over the past few months. Most notably a pain in my ears, inside my head. It's gotten so that any moderately loud electronic noise, whether from TV, radio, or cell phone, causes me physical pain. My balance has been off - I often have to take an extra step getting out of the shower or if I turn around quickly, to keep myself from falling. And on Monday I developed a strong neuralgia (pain in the nerves of the skin) all around my right eye, running right down the side of my face - so bad that it blurred the vision in my right eye.

He didn't make a diagnosis, but prescribed an appointment for me to get a brain MRI, to rule out something called an "accoustic neuroma" - a type of benign brain tumor that affects the inner ear and balance nerve. Hmm.

Then he ordered bloodwork done, so his assistant came in and proceeded to stab me twice in the left arm and once in the right before she was able to draw the necessary blood. There might be something to be said for hiring at least one vampire on staff - I have to remember to suggest it next time I speak to the doc.

Nothing like going to the doctor with a little ear pain and hearing the words "brain tumor" to get your week in gear but good. I have to call and make the appointment for my scan. I just hope the doctor says the magic words...

IT'S NOT A TOOOMAAAHHHH!

In other news, I have been listening to all the Harry Potter books on CD (again), and am currently wondering why people using the pensieve to explore other people's memories are able to walk away from the person whose memory it is, and listen in on or watch things that happened outside the rememberer's scope of attention.

For example, when Harry goes into the pensieve and sees Snape's memory of being near the lake where James Potter and Sirius and Lupin and Wormtail were faffing about, why is Harry able to leave Snape sitting in the shade of the bushes, poring over his test paperwork, and go over and listen in on James and Sirius' conversation? If the memory is Snape's, then the only thing Harry should be able to see or hear is what Snape was seeing or hearing, right? It doesn't make much sense otherwise.

And since humans are famous for having selective memory - ask six witnesses to any crime and you get six different answers - it is highly unlikely that Snape would have remembered (or even seen) James ruffling up his hair, or many of the other little tiny details that inform these forays into the pensieve.

I'm just saying.

Dumbledore uploading memories into his pensieve