WARNING!!! XTREMELY BORING!!!!
Thursday the 18th I went to the dermatologist. I knew he had gone on a vacation, so I asked him how it went. He said it was great, he went to Arizona and hiked. He'd meant to bike but he had so much fun hiking he didn't get around to biking. He asked if I had been to Arizona. No, I said. Well, he told me, definitely put it on your list. Then I could see him thinking... we'd discussed my cancer previously...a guy with cancer probably DOES have a list.... OOPS!
Yes, I'll put it on my list, I told him. He smiled nervously. I'll put it on my bucket list, I said, more forcefully, and with a smile. The doctor, nurse, and I had a good laugh.
That reminded me of a conversation I had with someone shortly after I got my (good) results back from my PET scan. It was a friendly disagreement as I recall and after I made my point the person said to me "I liked you better when you were...." (voice trailed off and the sentence wasn't finished). "TERMINAL!" I finished it for them. I never was diagnosed as terminal but it made the conversation more interesting. We got a good chuckle out of that one, too.
Friday the 19th Austin and I went to my mom's. My mom's still not staying alone at night. So Austin and I spent the night with her on Friday. After they had both gone to bed, I stayed up and channel surfed. Guess what was on? The Bucket List. I hadn't seen it so I gave it a viewing. Good movie. Favorite dialog was when Nicholson (playing Edward Cole, my dad's name) gives his younger assistant advice for when he's an old man (I'm paraphrasing here): 'never pass a bathroom, never waste a hard --, and never trust a fart'.
Good words for old men to live by, I guess. I'll let you know for sure when I'm an old man myself. Gettin' pretty close.
Saturday morning we headed out for the semifinal HS football game in Rock Island. Unfortunately, Sandwich lost 19-0. But they had a great year and Austin and I had a good father-son bonding / road trip / thing.
Then we went back to Mendota to my mom's and Julie picked Austin up and took him home. I spent Saturday night with my mom. It was nice to spend some time with her. I really appreciated the 6 AM koffee klatches. Not many chances for those recently.
Monday the 22nd it was back to work and after work, my blood counts. My wbcs were like 19.1, totally off the charts due to the neulasta. The nurse said it was OK that they were that high. I told her I was going out to shake sick people's hands because I was invincible! Charts soon.
Then the short work week. Thanksgiving we had Julie's family over and had a really good time. Sis-in-law Sherri cooked the bird and I was giving her grief all week about not drying it out. Let me tell you, she DID NOT dry it out. It was one of the juiciest turkeys I remember. She batted that bird right outta the park. We had a lot of great food.
As usual, we set up tables and chairs in our garage and had two TVs going with their volumes muted and the stereo on. That's my usual M.O., I like to make it feel like a party, or like you're having a few drinks with your pals at a bar. What's wrong with me, exactly?
A few of us tried the MagicWheel. My nephew Mack had a crack at it, he probably could do it given more time. I demonstrated my (total lack of) prowess. Bro-in-law Larry opined that I was on the right path, all it would take was practice... more on that later. Nephew Tyler tried it, as did his girlfriend Steph.
Julie's mom Jean always likes to play cards (In Between) for quarters. They got started on that but daughter Tessa wanted their cards so she could play with them. She already had a deck, but her autism told her she had to have both decks, and she kept coming back and making it VERY CLEAR that she needed them. She stalked and stalked them and finally got her way but not before a lot of quarters changed hands and they were ready to quit.
Then Austin made everyone go in the basement so he could give a little concert. With a CD blaring, he sang along, cowboy hat and all. No one in attendance will soon forget. He loves to feel like a superstar and god bless all in attendance for indulging him. Even though bleeding from their ears was no doubt very painful.
After Austin and Tessa put on their little shows, no one asked us to host XMAS. Should I have been surprised?Friday and Saturday Julie did a little XMAS shopping (I'd rather be beaten to death with a hockey stick than face those crowds). I surfed the internet, watched TV, and pursued various other worthwhile endeavors.
And then a book arrived: Brother Dave sent me a terrific book on the Tour De France (thanks, 'bro!). A lot of vintage pictures and great stories. Definitely a good read.
Today, Sunday the 28th Julie talked me into putting XMAS lites on the house. We had a nice day in the 40s so it was a now or never deal.
Julie mentioned to me what a rag I am about XMAS (true). I do truly hate XMAS. It's not the idea of the holiday, or the actual day itself, what I hate about it is that it starts right about Halloween. And there's just no escape. The vendors just beat you and beat you and beat you with it.
The other day when I was going into the clinic, I overheard two ladies talking : '93.9 has all Christmas music on now... ALL THE TIME!' They both squealed with delight. Just thinking about it, I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
I would like for XMAS to start December 1st, be reasonable in scope, and be more about spending time with your family than about breaking the bank buying gifts.
I'm an old curmudgeon, a scrooge, or whatever. I want XMAS on my terms. And I refuse to give in. Because I'm right.
And that's all that I have to say about that.
Julie does a very nice job decorating our house. She could probably use a few more XMAS trees as she only puts up the 5. But God bless her, she has the enthusiasm plus the energy and the stamina to do all the XMAS-y things around the house. Because I sure the eff don't.
While I was outside today I decided to take a few flights on the MagicWheel. I took a couple nice runs (maybe Larry was right, all I need is to practice). Then I took a VERY nice run, all the way down the driveway, soft bounce off the curb, and then... I guess the cumulative effect of all the spills caught up with the rear wheel, 'cuz the emm effer broke!
Yeah, and just when I was mastering it, too.
After the lights, I watched the Bears and decided I should 'blog, so here I am.
Have you noticed what's missing? Yeah, no biking. Too dark after work and so that leads to me abandoning it altogether, unfortunately.
I've been feeling OK, but for sure I've been eating too much and sitting around.
I know I've been gaining weight and am not happy about that. So I have to get back in the saddle again, exercise wise, no matter what saddle it turns out to be.
People have told me my face looks better (less drawn, I guess) now that I'm carrying more weight. What to do? I feel better at 190 but evidently I look better at 200/205/210.
Ain't life a kick in the head?
Well, at least I got my lights up.
Have a great week!
No comments:
Post a Comment