Thursday, August 30, 2007

Hmph

I woke up this morning in such pain -- huge and blinding. The pain in my hip was the sun, and I was a planet flying through space around it. It took a while to remember who I am.

I've got my own orbit, dammit.

I suppose you've had enough of that metaphor, huh? Already???

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Oh and by the way...

... have you been following the news on Hilary Clinton's association wtih an ultra-conservative congressional prayer group?

It makes me want to scream.

Eh.

Was experiencing some discomfort yesterday and so I left work after just a few hours. Today is the same, but I'll go in anyway.

There are scans on the horizon, already scheduled & seemingly not a moment too soon. I also need to make an appointment for Aredia, the bone-strengthening drug, and to have blood work done. I do & I don't want to take time to make time. It's all understandable.

It's all predictable, and playing out as it should. Of course the pain returns, and of course I'm conflicted regarding commencing treatment. Ho hum.

But oh, summer! Summer with Eric! What a treat.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

TB or not TB?

School employees are required to have periodic TB tests. As a courtesy to the district's employees, my department administers free TB tests on the first few days of the school year. The injection of TB serum is subcutaneous -- a little bubble under the skin --and any swelling or hard lumps that remain when the employee returns 48 hours later for the "reading" are measured.

I am sometimes (hopefully just internally) impatient with people who are fearful. Because I don't share their fears I think to myself: what if they ever have a REAL problem?

One woman yesterday was absolutely undone. She was shaking and crying ... sobbing, really ... and clammy and unable to sit down for the injection. I thought she might pass out. I was sympathetic toward her. When it was over she was smiling and needlessly apologetic.

But then there are the People Who Carry On. I suspect them of being consciously dramatic. They returned to have their arms read yesterday with various little bruises, shaken to the core. Petulant, accusing... insistent that the nurses were incompetent or they wouldn't have bruised... sharing their battle stories with each other as if they'd really been through something.

I know that many of them, if faced with.... let's say... the kind of needle experiences I've had in the last few years, might deal with it with grace. People step up. And I never want to be the sort of person who compares lots. No one wins. But, still... enough.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Look at that!

I am surprised to find that I haven't blogged since Tuesday! I guess there hasn't been much to say. I've just been working. Working, working. One week into the new school year I'm already counting the days to the next vacation.

My workplace is considerably less fun this year, as I'm no longer working with my comrade, NM. I'm been left with CN (Crazy Nurse) and AM (Anger Management -- which is the class she had to take after berating my predosessor). Uh oh.

Now it's Sunday evening -- technically Monday morning -- and I'm not feeling super great about... although not super bad, either.

That's all for now!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Tonight

It's promising to be an uberbusy and interesting year at work. I'm not too worried about it. I'm several months out from my last chemotherpy and I'm married to the smartest and nicest fella in (any) town. Can I complain?

I need to contact my doctor and make arrangements for re-staging, but I don't wanna. I will, though. It has to happen.

Other than that... just hangin' out... getting organized for the year... eating Eric's good lasagna... playing Cabbage w/ Graham, who's been our houseguest for a couple o' nights.

That's all I have to report!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Well...

I went to work today. Hawaii one day and work the next.

I suppose that's better than work one day and work the next.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Going Home

I can't believe we're going home today! I don't know why I can't believe it -- we've certainly wrung as much goodness out of the summer as we could. But this morning we don't want to go home. We want more. More goodness.

Also: our house used to be my favorite place in the world, which is a great way to live. I loooooved our house and I looooooved being home. When we would go on vacation I'd be homesick.

It seemed like our house was always full of people and fun and happy diversions. We had parties... dinner parties and dance parties and chair dancing parties and cocktail parties. And we had houseguests... one person would leave and two would replace him or her.

Now my home feels like someplace I stay when I feel sick. There are no more parties. There's no music. There's just chemotherapy and work and impending death and feeling like shit.

So -- yeah -- we don't want the summer to end.

Ima try to drag it out a bit energetically, but I don't know if these old bones will cooperate.

Getting ready for the airport now.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

:::Yawn::: Your turn!

We've been going, going, going, and today I was gone. We left our hotel this morning to tour the Iolani Palace, which was the official residence of the soverign nation of Hawaii's last two monarchs -- King Kalakaua, who built the Palace in 1882, and his sister and successor, Queen Lili`uokalani.

The palace was closed.

And it was hot, and I was tired... soooo tired, after an entire summer-on-the-go. I had crashed. So Eric and I went to the movies. Yes... we went to a dark, air-conditioned theater and saw Hairspray. It was the right movie and the right time; we laughed & laughed. We laughed whenever Christopher Walken came on screen, before he said his lines. We tapped our feet and wiggled in our seats with the music. It was good.

Then we went swimming at Waikiki. The beach at Waikiki didn't become so famous for nothing. It's crowded, but it's beautiful.

Tomorrow we're hanging out with Luana (yay!) and Sunday we fly home.

Here are a few pics:


We visited another rain forest in Volcano National Park. Loved it!


A rain forest can make the distinction between plant and animal seem kinda fuzzy.


We visited an orchid farm. Gorgeous!


The memorial at the sunken battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor was more moving than we anticipated.


We spent more than hour navigating the World's Largest Maze in the hot, hot, sun.


Just another tourist!

Friday, August 17, 2007

I should have...

posted more stuff lately. So much has happened, and we're still very busy... I know I 'll never remember half the stuff we've done.

And now it's time to go again!

Having a great time. Wish you (my three regular readers) were here!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

All's Well

We left the Big Island with Hurricane Flossie at our heels -- much ado about nothing, if you ask me. I'm glad that there's no advance warning of earthquakes. I live in earthquake country, and all the frenzied folks buying water and batteries would just irritate me.

We've arrive in Hilo and will soon explore!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Aloha Continues

We left Kailiua-Kona and stayed a few nights in the cattle country where it was lush, green, and cool. We kept returning to Hapuna , though – because, really, if you’re just a few miles from one of the nicest beaches in the world, how do you stay away?



We went to the fancyshmancy restaurant in Waimea. It was good, but no better than the every day places we frequent in the Bay Area.

Yesterday, after spending a few hours at Hapuna, we moved camp to Hilo. We stopped along the way for a short hike to Akaka Falls. Another climate! This was a rain forest, with amazing foliage and flowers…wide banana leaves as tall as I am, bamboo, Jurassic-looking-ferns, wild orchids, and flowers in every color you can imagine. Wow!




I’m starting to feel worn out from all of the travel. It’s been a long & wonderful summer, and I’ve been going, going, going. I'm starting to feel kinda gone, but it’s okay. Summer's nearly over and there's more to see and do, including a visit with Yoko and Luana! Yay! This summer hasn’t been restful, but it’s been good.

Today: A Volcano!

Tomorrow: Fly to Oahu!

Friday, August 10, 2007

More Aloha

Yesterday we went to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, a national historic park. There are ruins of royal grounds there. It was once an important residence of the ali'i. Very cool, but even more interesting to me was the pu'uhonua, or Place of Refuge.


This cove was the royal canoe landing. No commoners allowed!

There's a massive stone wall that still stands, behind which was a sanctuary for noncombatants in times of war, defeated warriors, or people who broke the kapu (sacred laws). Noncombatants and defeated warriors were allowed to remain until the war was over, and then were allowed to live, showing alligiance to whichever side won the war.

If people who broke the law were able to make it to the sanctuary, they were absolved of their sins and allowed to return home without punishment. Wow!

In the afternoon we went to the beach a Kekaha Kai State Park. It was gorgeous, of course -- the water was that amazing crystal turquoise that I've only seen in Hawaii and the Caribbean -- but BOY was it a trek! I wouldn't recommend it unless you're driving an off-road vehicle. Plus, there was a daunting (for me, anyway) scramble across a lava bed in the heat of the sun.

It made the water feel especially nice, though.

We had a great dinner at a local place. I had a classic teriyaki beef plate lunch. I love a Hawaiian plate lunch!

We're leaving our super comfy condo today and moving to the other side of the island. First we'll spend a few hours a Hapuna, though. It's about as nice as beach can be.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

2 Pics


A life of danger and adventure.



Pololu Valley Lookout on the big island.

Aloha

Kailua-Kona is bee you tea full. We spent the day at Hapuna Beach, where Eric spent several winters some years ago. It's still very nice -- crystal blue water and white sands.

Boy oh boy am I tired. Sunburned and tired.

More later!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Brrrrrrrrr

Damn, it's cold in Oakland, California.

I think I'll go to Hawaii!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Wow.

We arrived home last night from our two weeks on the road -- two weeks and we slept in ten different cities. It was a wonderful trip... so much to see & do, and so many lovely hours with Eric.

A funny thing happened on the way to accomplish the mission, part B. I largely stopped caring!

Initially I wanted to go back to the places I'd been. I wanted to visit my father's old home town and spend time at the cemetery in Balmorhea. Mission accomplished and it was a more powerful experience than I had anticipated. It was a good.

I also wanted to go to Long Beach, California -- the place I often refer to as "the scene of the crime". It's no secret to any of my three regular readers that I didn't have a very good time there. I wanted to see where I'd been, and maybe confront a ghost or two.

I discovered that if there are ghosts there, they are as common & harmless as dust bunnies.


Just another house in Long Beach, CA

I walked around my old schools, drove by the house where I lived. It was all pretty and tidy. I loved the weather, loved the flowers everywhere, loved being there with Eric and telling him my stories. Some of the stories were sad, but I wasn't sad.

It was a sunny day, and I was there with my adorable husband.

So... we scraped the boohooing over the past and spent two hardcore days at Disneyland. I hadn't been in over twenty years. It was wonderfully nostalgic and there was so much that was "new to me" that it totally rocked. Here's what I have to say about spending 48 hours in Disneyland every twenty years: Wheeeeeeeeeee!


It's actually a big world, but the ride is still good fun.


Since we've been home all I've done is sleep. We are exhausted, and we leave for Hawaii on Tuesday.

What a summer!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Fifteen, do I hear sixteen?

Today is our fifteenth wedding anniversary. It's been a good, good, day. Even my worst days have been made better by Eric. And the best days... well.. who has words to describe days like that?

I just asked Eric if he had anything to say to the blogosphere, and he asked me to read what I had already written. I did. And this is what he had to say:

That's all she wrote.

I guess it is!