As if the toll my pseudotumor medication is taking on my body isn't enough, now I keep having to butt heads with my insurance company to get the new, increased dosage prescription filled. See, I had the original-strength prescription refilled about a week before I visited the doctor, who then upped the dosage. So, obviously, I went through the pills faster because I was taking more of them. I had mailed the new, increased dosage prescription into my insurance company's mail order pharmacy partner, because there's no co-pay if I get a 90-day supply from them. (It's, like $30 for me to buy them at a local pharmacy.)

Of course, the mail-order pills don't show up, and I start to get pretty low. So I call my doctor and ask her to phone in a prescription to my local pharmacy, because I know from experience that they won't just give me a refill if they think it hasn't been enough time for me to have used up all the pills I got last time. This is what happened with the last medication when she changed my dosage, so this time, I called the pharmacy first, and they said to have the doctor call them. So, of course, when I get to the pharmacy, they haven't filled the prescription because the insurance company won't let them, even though the doctor had phoned in the new prescription to explain why I was going through the pills faster. And they tell me there's nothing they can do, that I need to call my insurance company and talk to them.

So I go home and call RxAmerica, and explain the situation. And once they understand what's going on, they say that all the pharmacy needs to do is to call them for an override. Which is something the pharmacy could have done while I was there, instead of making me go all the way home, and then come all the way back.

And the woman behind the counter is still rude to me.

And, to top it all off, I find out that the reason the mail-order pills didn't come in a timely manner is the same reason: the insurance company doesn't believe it's been enough time for me to get a refill. And now I've just got another month's worth of pills, so they'll be even more convinced that I'm stocked up for the time being and don't need any more. As if the mail is somehow instantaneously teleported from them to me or something, as if there's no need for me to try to get the pills on the way from them before I run out. God.

And I don't even want to be taking the things in the first place. They make me tired, they make me have trouble concentrating, they upset my stomach, and if I was taking one more per day, they'd give me a rash. And now I have to go through all this frustration, just to get the things in the first place.

In other news, it will probably come as a big surprise to folks who know me that I've decided to stop buying Batman, the comic book. (Still planning on reading Detective Comics, one of the other three monthly comics featuring him.) Batman has been my favorite hero since... well, since I first discovered superheroes, I guess, and it feels weird giving up yet another comic that he stars in, particularly the main one. But I'm just not enjoying it the way I used to.

Part of it is my general realization that I'm no longer interested in the monthly superhero/supervillain battles that most ongoing superhero comics present. I mean, Green Lantern: Rebirth is probably the purest example of a truly awful superhero comic, but the fans seem willing to overlook that because it's still hitting all the right genre-element-buttons. It's just hitting them in a spectacularly awful way. But in reading it, I'm realizing that, even when done well, the idea of an ongoing superhero-fights-supervillain series isn't something that appeals any more. Nothing has any lasting impact, because there will always be a new villain next month, a new fight, and everything might be undone with the explanation that people were possessed by yellow fear aliens, so what's the point anyway?

So that's part of my general dissatisfaction with ongoing superhero comics right now. Another comes from my reading Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones, where he talks about why kids read superhero comics. They are, he claims, a way for kids to work through feelings of violence and anger, to confront evil in a safe environment. And reading it laid out like that, I can't help feeling that I'm just too old for that.

Plus, in case I haven't mentioned it, Doctor Who comes back in less than two months, and that's a hero much closer to my own heart. So my enthusiasm for Batman has been shoved aside somewhat.

And, on top of everything else, the last couple of issues of Batman haven't been very good. The art, by Doug Mahnke, co-creator of the Mask, is just fine, but the writing, by Pulitzer-prize-winning Judd Winick, is nothing special. Even worse, when a friend called to ask me how come the latest issue appeared to completely contradict the previous one, I had completely forgotten what had happened. And if that's the kind of an impression the comic is going to leave on me, then there's no point to my continuing to buy it. (Plus, we get it at the library, so I can keep reading it for free.)

Much more worth my time: Blue Girl by Charles de Lint. I've been a fan of de Lint's for a number of years now, and while I'm actually a little behind on his adult novels, I went ahead and started this one, his latest. For the past 15 years or so, almost all his books and short stories are set in the fictional city of Newford. The short stories tend to focus on a recurring cast of characters who show up as supporting characters in the novels. The last two adult novels, however, have brought those supporting characters into the limelight, which is quite nice for his longtime readers. This one, however, is for young adults, and focuses on new characters (and hopefully won't give away any surprises from the books I haven't read yet).

For one thing, he's a beautiful writer. When I think about how I want to write, it always seems to be in a style that's halfway de Lint and halfway Neil Gaiman. (Only it never comes out that way, because I can't concentrate long enough to craft a sentence the way I want it. Just the sort of stream-of-consciousness rambling I do here, that's about all I can manage.) But I also love his work for the way he shows the subtle magic going on behind the scenes, just out of sight. Because his real world people and places seem so well-drawn, I can accept the magic when it turns up.

That's about all for now. Going to go watch the Friday night Scifi shows I recorded because I no longer seem capable of staying up past 9:00 on Fridays...