An Evening with the Doctor

Last evening I (and about 500 other people) had the pleasure of spending a bit of time with Doctor Oliver Sacks.  Dr. Sacks is a world-renowned physician, neurologist and expert in all things brain-y.  I've been a huge fan of his since college, when we read "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" which contained case studies of people with prosopagnosia or face blindness.  Since then, I've been fascinated by the idea of not recognizing someone based on facial features alone.  Sufferers of face blindness, can no longer recognize even those closest to them.  Once they leave a room, and come back, the person they are seeing is now a stranger to them until they speak or use some other distinguishing noise or movement.  So while I'm sure the initial description of the book made your eyes glaze over, you have to be at least a little intrigued by the premise.

That seems to be his greatest asset, along with his straight to the point writing style: choosing fascinating topics.  His book subjects range from catatonic patients waking up after being given a drug used to treat an entirely different ailment, what music does for the brain, Temple Grandin the autistic expert on animals, and most recently, hallucinations.   "Hallucinations" was the to be the basis for his discussion at this particular event and was given to the audience with their tickets.  

Now while hallucinations are a particularly interesting concept, you (like I did) would think that the discussion would have been riveting to say the least.  Edge of your seat stuff, surely.  Stories of patients seeing and hearing all sorts of shenanigans while under the influence of all sorts.  But sadly it was not.  It was interesting but quite different than I had imagined; not bad but not what I expected.  

Seeing as he's been writing for quite some time, I should have realized he would be slightly advanced in age.  Also, given my affinity for all things British, I should have known he was a Brit.  However, neither one of these things crossed my mind.  Doctor Sacks is now 80 years old and therefore talks quite quietly and not as quickly as he used to.  Add to that the thick British accent, and you'd see where one may have some difficulty.  

Timing was another issue.  He spoke for barely 40 minutes, with 20 minutes used mostly by the moderator.  I'm assuming this was because of his age and the sheer number of people that were hoping to have their books signed after he spoke.  However, even with the unexpected speed bumps, you could tell, he's just as clever as ever.  He seemed like a very sweet man who could take on any younger experts in his field without breaking a sweat; pretty much exactly as I've always imagined him...with some added British-ness.

Oliver Sacks

Would love to tell you all about my evening seeing:

At the 6th&I Synagogue in Washington DC.  But it's a school night and I really must get to bed.  More info tomorrow I promise.  Nighty Night!

Summer in the City

The residual grumps from the never-ending rain that has finally ended, still remain.  But after a beautifully sunny and gorgeous day, they should be blowing out soon.  I think (knock on wood) it's time to focus on all the fun things that will be occurring this summer and start checking these babies off the list!

1.  Bestie Shopping day in Georgetown complete with Frozen Hot Chocolate (and of course lunch, but who cares when there's Frozen Hot Chocolate!?) at Serendipity 3. - Part of my birthday gift that I'm so looking forward to!
2.  "Taking Steps" by the Colonial Players in Annapolis - Second part of my birthday gift.  I'm loving this exploring of Maryland theatres that I've somehow lucked into this year.  Nothing beats Broadway or the West End, but we really do have some great artists here.
3. Dr. Oliver Sacks at 6th&I Synagogue in DC - I'm in awe of this man.  He's done some of the most fascinating research into the mind and how it works.  "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" is one of my all-time favorite books.  Getting the chance to hear him speak is definitely a highlight!
4. "Once" with Arthur Darvill on Broadway complete with summer day in the city with a great friend.  - We already have reservations at a cool Cuban place and are working on finding some sweet treats to occupy our time.  What's better than spending a whole day in the city that never sleeps?!
5. OC day with the Mama - A summer tradition that never fails.  Boog's and Thrasher's for lunch, beach time, outlet time and of course Dumser's for dessert.  Yum!

And of course so much more fun once Fall hits (Officially under 4 months until the big trip - 3 months and 29 days to be exact...: )  I'm sure there'll be more to come but for now, let's get this fantastic summer started! Now do you see why I was so eager for the rain to leave?