Sunday, October 07, 2007

Failed Heroism and the Shrink Rappers Pursue the Perfect Pizza


The Shrink Rappers have a new quest: to find the best pizza in Baltimore. Don't get me wrong, we still like ducks, but this is a culinary adventure.

So, Victor started it: he read about Matthew's Pizza in a Laura Lippman novel. Clinkshrink couldn't wait, she went without us. Roy says Carmine's is the best, and he's currently in Las Vegas trying to win the big bucks to pay for new recording equipment for our My Three Shrinks podcast. We started without him.

So it was a bit of an adventure getting to Matthew's. First there was the parking space issue, and then, as we walked the few blocks to the restaurant, we came across what appeared to be a dead body in front of a church. People sleep on sidewalks on church steps
all the time, this gentleman was in the middle of the sidewalk. Clink asked him if he was okay, and as he raised his head, there was a small pool of blood on the concrete. We called for an ambulance, and Clink asked the man a few questions, she had him move all his extremities, he seemed coherent, and Clink was relieved that he didn't seem to be one of her patient/inmates. He said he'd been jumped and someone tried to take his money. The blood was coming from a small laceration on his forehead and it seemed to have stopped bleeding. I called his wife.

"I'm looking for..." oops. Excuse me, sir, what's your name?
"I'm looking for John's wife (not his real name)."
"I'm his EX-WIFE." I told her we'd found him, that he seemed to be okay, that the paramedics were here wrapping his wound, that he'd been mugged and hit his head and was going to be taken to a hospital.
"He had too much to drink," she said. And judging by the smell of things, she may have been right.

My second attempt to be a hero this weekend happened when I was walking with Max. We were far from home on a quiet road when we met a wet, slightly bedraggled little dog standing in the middle of the street. I guess I think that when people or dogs actually belong somewhere, they move towards the curb. I would have assumed he lived there, but I looked at his tag and it gave an address that was miles away. Poor little thing. I tethered him onto Max's leash and walked around the block to a friend's house. Their kitchen door was open, so I walked in with two dogs in tow, and asked for a phone.

The tag identified the dog as Louis Vuitton Adams. This is his real name, I've decided that anyone who names their dog Loius Vuitton should expect to find their pet on someone's blog. That's the Adams' dog, I was told. Apparently his owners have divorced and the address on the tag is the ex-wife's address.

I thought I was rescuing a dog, instead I had stolen one.

So Matthew's Pizza was wonderful. When Roy comes back, we'll try Carmine's. If he's lost all his money, it's okay, ClinkShrink will treat. If you know of any great Pizza places you'd like to us to try, please write in. I'm up for a pizza project.

Oh, was this supposed to have something to do with psychiatry?

7 comments:

ClinkShrink said...

OK, I'll make it relevant to psychiatry. Some folks have written in about whether or not they should go into psychiatry, and about how psychiatrists are viewed by other doctors. Well, this was a good example of how psychiatrists are 'real' doctors. As Dinah was calling 911, I took his medical history, did a quick physical (within limits without instruments) and gave all that information to the paramedics when the arrived. It's been at least 20 years since internship but you just don't forget how to do that. (Ironically, afterward Dinah reminded me I missed the psychosocial history. She got that when she called his ex-wife.)

Midwife with a Knife said...

Are you guys New York style, Chicago style, California style or none/all of the above pizza people?

Inquiring minds want to know!

By the way, that was nice of you to help that guy. Somehow that situation just seems really sad. The drunk dude getting mugged.

Gerbil said...

The dog has some complicated psychosocial history too. However, dogs (particularly small yappy ones) are notoriously poor self-historians.

ClinkShrink said...

Chicago style all the way. Deep dish, stuffed, lots of cheese. Preferably with good friends.

ClinkShrink said...

I mean, pizza eaten with good friends not pizza stuffed with good friends.

Steve & Barb said...

So, is the moral here something about getting divorced? That it results in napped mutts and sots with cuts? (just trying to keep up with Rob)

I prefer thinner pizza, so I guess that is NY (not sure what makes it Calif).

BTW, another example here (in both acts of good samaritanism) of the importance of taking a history. Usually provides more info than any blood test or imaging scan.

Oh, just got back from Vegas. Not only did I not win any money in poker (only played $5 in slots, got $2 back), but Southwest lost my bag. I'm still betting even money that it will turn up. I hope so; it has my black dress shoes, my running shoes (a misnomer, in my case), my sport coat and my digital camera. Oh, and one more thing... this is the first time I've ever lost a piece of luggage from an airline. One piece of advice. Never keep your car keys in a checked piece of luggage.

If y'all would like, I'd be happy to put up some of my Vegas pics.

Sarebear said...

That would be fun, Roy. The pics, not the lost luggage.

Eeeee, the digicamera AND the keys. I'd be prescribing myself something for the nausea . . . er, having the friends write it. Lol!

It's a nice drive to LV from here. The TWISTY windy canyon between St. George and Mesquite is nuts. Then it's deadly straight. I think I got up to 115 once on that straight stretch, in my younger days.

Saw The Sands hotel get imploded in the middle of the night from my hotel; interesting piece of history.

I think what I like most about Dinah is she's the type who'd help out a dog like that. Even if she turned out to be a dog-napper . . . Clink, sounds like a villain for your story, someone to inadvertently steal that CO's dog.

I betcha anything there's a, What kind of pizza are you, quiz, on the 'net - see if your results match your munching prefs.

Oh, and Roy, if wanting to have a discussion on issues of how suicide is portrayed in popular media smacks too much of censorship, how is it that this doesn't seem to come to mind when you are discussing how shrinks are portrayed in popular media?

I figured maybe you were just playing devil's advocate to the other comments in the romanticizing suicide post, but that's quite probably wishful thinking. As well as, naturally, the shrink thing hits closer to home, for you, but I feel discussions on either of the above can be valuable in helping provide a balancing view to sometimes-skewed portrayals of various issues.