Just got back from Nantucket and Provincetown, where we watched people from various subcultures wearing funny clothes and doing strange ritualized things.

And to think we could have been in Austin.

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My facial paralysis is no better. I keep straining to smile but the most I can manage is a twitch in my left cheek that you can’t see unless you’re staring at me. I think I understand something about amputees’ ghost pains now — I feel like I look like the Joker when I smile, but nothing happens.

My mouth isn’t working right — I bite my lip constantly, sometimes to the point of blood, and I’ve become a very indistinct speaker. I sound pretty much like Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama and have taken to saying “Hooray!” a lot because it’s the funniest thing I can manage.

My left eye’s drooping and waters constantly — it doesn’t close well when I sleep, either.

Not good. I know it’ll be better eventually, but this is embarrassing to say the least and frankly, the strain of trying to keep my face looking “normal” without drooling and weeping all over myself is pretty tiring. I want it to be over soon, and with less pain (the nerve is regenerating and when it gets cooking it twitches imperceptibly to others but with a pretty good amount of discomfort to me).

Add to that the two days of walking around that’s aggravated my foot injury a bit and I’m not a happy camper.

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Taking the ferry from Nantucket to Hyannis this afternoon, I watched a young woman reading one of those celebrity magazines and the titles of the articles have got a poem brewing in me…keep yer eyes peeled…

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I also broke out my old film SLR for the trip. Can’t wait to see what I managed to remember about taking a decent picture.

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Home now, exhausted, and ready to sleep…see y’all later.