9:05 a.m. // 08 February 2005

I went to the lady-doctor for the first time yesterday. (Do you sense a trend? My resolution was to take better care of my health. Or rather, to take better advantage of my health insurance.) Yes, I'm 25 and a half and I had never seen a gynecologist before. Well, when I was 18 I had to get a physical before going to Rice, but there was no pelvic exam necessary.

Don't ask me why I kept putting it off, because it was no big deal. I told the doctor (who's called Dr. Finger, I kid not) that my mom's a nurse who's gotten kind of jaded, and my sister and I never saw doctors regularly while we were growing up. I cannot remember going to a doctor between the ages of 6 and 18. Even the time when I was 8 and threw up a mound of noodles by my bed in the middle of the night, and then could no longer breathe -- no trip to the ER, no followup visit.

I like the modicum of modesty they have in place at the gynecologist's office. You get into a gown -- with a huge opening up and down the front, but still, you're covered. And there's a giant paper napkin that you cover your lap with. It seems like it's all done to make you seem less exposed and more detached from what's going on -- e.g., it makes it hard to watch the doctor looking at you.

The only real surprise is that I weigh a lot less than I thought I did. I maybe should see a GI specialist, I am told. I'm closer to weighing in the two digits than I thought I was -- although I don't think I'm in danger of doing so. I'm also not eligible to donate blood.

A couple months ago, Dwayne and I ate at Int. Food, one of our favorite places to eat. (I have a particular fondness for restaurants that are very obviously family-owned, with family members working there and the occasional kid having to hang out after school.) The daughter (I still don't know her name) said she wanted to ask me a personal question: How much did I weigh? She's afraid of being too skinny (she's very little) and had been thinking of me as the perfect size, and that my weight should be her goal. Apparently I told her about ten pounds too much, so I should go back and tell her that she's a lot closer to her goal than she thought.

I told her that if she figures out any way to gain weight, Dwayne Ray needs to know it too. She told us about a smoothie that you're supposed to drink every day. It involves: