A post in which it was a good Friday

Aside from the work day being 8.5 thousand years long. This day just seemed endless.

When it finally drew to a close, however, I decided I wanted to do something fun tonight. Russ, Billy, and Logan are out of town. Rhonda turned me down for the movies tonight - get this - on the excuse of a headache. That kind of made me feel like a straight guy. I called Justin, but he had made plans already. With his ex. Yeah I was feeling really important. A lot of time of Friday nights I go to see Miss Kat and dana, but dana had called me earlier in the week to specifically ask if I wanted to do breakfast/brunch with them over the weekend, so I figured that they had other plans tonight.

The one thing that I knew I wanted was ficken tenders. There's a new (around here) brand called Gardein that started making them and they're really good. But I couldn't remember if I had any in the freezer or not.

I stopped to get some (and of course an almond croissant) and while I was checking out dana called. She invited me over, and I was tickled to go. We ordered in pizza and had a good visit. It was a very nice evening.

A post in which I buy groceries

Ok, I always enjoy going to the grocery store. I'll admit it. Even when I wasn't eating that much during treatment, sometimes I would just go in the store and wander around for a bit to visit with the food before I bought the few things I needed.

It feels odd to not have enough in the house to eat on, after having to freeze things and make sure the fridge was cleaned out for the last six months. This week caught me flat-footed with nothing much in the house for supper though. So I decided to stop on the way home and lay in supplies for next week.

I got things to make garlic smother-fried vegetables to take for lunch, and the fixins for hot dogs for supper. I've been craving them, but haven't been able to eat them. I also stocked up on some staples. That will mean if I don't have time to go to the store this weekend (it's a busy one) I'll still have things to eat. It's odd how much doing such small, normal things gives me such a sense of satisfaction.

I got almost home, and realized that I hadn't bought the one thing I actually stopped to get - some cheese for sandwiches that I'm taking for lunch this week. So I just stopped at another store. I got so excited about buying groceries that I forgot what I went for.

When I got home I wrestled it all inside as the next-door neighbor's dogs barked in vociferous joy. I am SO tired of listening to her ()*&(*%%#$!! dogs bark. Incessantly. I've talked to Dad about it, and he told me that the one time he complained to a neighbor about a barking dog, he wished that he hadn't. When my dad advises caution, I listen. He's not usually a cautious kinda guy.

Once I got in the house though, I barely noticed them. It just gets tiresome coming home to that every day. And every weekend.

In other, better news, Lisa sent me a new picture tonight of my darlin baby princess niece Ava playing dress-up:



Lord, if I was that cute I could rule the world.

A post in which it is a quiet night

It was a slow day at work.

On the way home, I decided to run in Whole Foods. My friend Vince works there and it's always good to see him, plus I needed some kombu. I'm also officially addicted to their almond croissants, which are heavenly. Vince wasn't working, but there is another guy there I know that I like. I saw and talked to him for a few minutes. And we flirted. It seems like such a minor thing, but it was so validating to be doing something so normal and pleasurable, and to have him respond.

I went home in a fantastic mood. Yay me. :)

A post in which I enjoy a celebratory meal

It was actually a good day all the way around.

I started the day by getting in touch with Rick. He's going to James's birthday party with me this weekend. So I have an actual date (!!) which is really nice. It's been a long time. I am pretty excited. My happiness is tempered only with the unpleasant news I have to share about the port complications and other things. I'm wondering how long I should wait before I expose all. That's always a poser for me.

I had good news at the doc today. He told me that a) my blood was finally thin enough (thank goodness, I thought I was going to have to purchase a large glass or something to carry my body around in); b) that he was taking me off the Lovenox injections for now; and c) that I didn't have to come in again until next week. Excellent.

I finished up the day at work and headed to Dad and Eve's house. Dad was taking me out for a celebration of the end of chemo. Since it tickles him to death to see me eat a piece of meat, and since I love them so much, I asked to go out for hot wings. I love buffalo wings the way a fat boy loves cake. Seriously. I just don't allow myself to indulge very often. We went to Quaker State Steak & Lube, in part because I went there years ago with some bears and they had the best barbecue sauce I have ever eaten. Unfortunately, they have discontinued that flavor (isn't that always the way it goes?). Still, it was all-you-can-eat wings night, and we proceeded to eat all we could eat.

Every time I eat chicken I see the chicken truck the next day, but I had already seen it Saturday night on my way home. I was thinking I was past the mojo, but no. Our waitress (at freakin' Quaker State mind you) was a vegetarian. During the course of taking our order, she found out that I usually am, and that I was falling off the wagon. So a fellow believer watched me sell out my convictions for buffalo wings. I decided to disregard it and ate them anyway.

Despite the bewildering array of sauces on offer, none were as good as the sauce I'd had on my prior visit (when I had buffalo shrimp). But since I love them so much I ate about 5,000 or so wings. Still, in future when the urge hits I'll be going to Sonny's in Powdersville. I think theirs are better.

After eating until we couldn't move, we adj0urned to the house for a visit before I headed home.

Usually, Valentine's Day gets me down. It's a reminder that I'm still single. But I don't feel so alone any more. Everyone has rallied round so well during treatment that it feels ungrateful and unnecessary to have a 'poor little me' party. I sent Valentines to Rhonda, Lisa, and Ava, and enjoyed that they would get a pleasant surprise. So the old VD didn't bother me so badly this year. Maybe my perspective has changed on what's really important. I sure hope so.

It was a nice evening.

A post in which it is a tale of two Richards

When I started this post, I didn't think that I was using the title as a clever euphemism, but on second thought maybe I kind of am. There's a male strip club in Atlanta called Swinging Richards, and although I really have never cared for strippers, I've always thought the name was most clever.

But first.

I started the day off by putting on a pot of beans for soup. I LOVE my crock pot. I bought it years and years ago when I first moved out, and paid what was at the time a lot of money for me (I was poor). But I've never regretted it - it is a wonderful appliance.

I have a great recipe for twice-cooked Tuscan bread soup, but it takes three days to make. The base of it is delicious though, so sometimes I just make the base and eat that, which is what I did today. It's white beans (the recipe calls for white kidney beans, or Cannellini beans if you're Italian, but it works fine with Great Northern Beans, which you can get at BiLo), fresh sage, cracked black pepper, fresh crushed garlic cloves, and virgin olive oil. It doesn't sound like much, but it turns out really delicious. There is a bunch of stuff you add to the base after you puree it, but I don't always have time to do all that, and there is stuff in the full recipe I'm not supposed to eat at the mo (like black kale).

With the crock pot loaded, I went off to work and caught up on some things today. It was pretty quiet.

When I gave myself my Lovenox shot today, blood came running out of the tiny beeny hole afterwards, so I'm thinking that surely my blood is thin enough now. I'll find out tomorrow.

I drove straight home to see to my beans because I was afraid they would scorch, but I needn't have worried. I had set the crock pot too low and they weren't done. So I turned the crock pot up and two hours later, boom - done. I pureed the soup, packaged it up, and put some in the freezer. So I made up for goofing off Sunday morning and felt very responsible and practical.

In other news, I was fooling around online tonight when I ran across another guy named Richard. He is a cutie. We saw each other about four years ago, and just when I started to like him he told me he was moving back to Pennsylvania to go back to his ex. At the time, I was rather put out about it. Well he's back now, he has fond memories of me, and he would like to get together.

The other Richard (I'm calling him Rick because my Dad's name is Richard, and it's just too Freudian for words). Is the guy that I liked two weeks ago, who went out of town this past weekend. I suspect I may be more into him than he is to me, but it's hard to tell. When I hear from him he sounds positive and glad to hear from me, but there are large chunks of time when he's incommunicado. Hard to tell if that's because of his job (he works third shift), because of lukewarm interest, or just because he's being a man.

So it's confusing. I suppose it isn't really good of me to see them both at once, but at the same time, I've been out with Rick one time, so it isn't like we're exclusive or anything. Dating can be so complicated.

But at the moment, I have two Richards. Well, two in the bush anyway. Not to objectify either of them.

A post in which we go to Columbia

Tuesday, February 7 is Cole's birthday. Although I had spoken to him on the day, what with the squinky arm and all I didn't get a card in the mail. I had heard from Lisa that we were tentatively scheduling a birthday lunch for today. When I talked to Eve yesterday, she said they planned to leave at about 10am. I accordingly set my alarm, got up, had breakfast and my pills, and got ready.

Then I found the texts from Eve from the night before that first everything had been up in the air again (both Lisa and Cole suffer from a real problem with scheduling), and then that the time had changed. We were having an early supper, and weren't leaving until 2:30pm.

Now there was a golden opportunity to make lunches for next week, or at least go to the grocery store, both of which needed to be done. Unfortunately I ended up squandering that time fooling around online. It happens.

We drove down and met Lisa, Cole, and Ava at a Japanese restaurant (huzzah!). Lisa looked great. Cole, bless his heart, has inherited the skin and acne problems prevalent in my mother's family (as did I). He's going to be a good looking boy when he grows out of it, but his face is pretty torn up at the mo. But he seemed happy to see us, and I was silently thankful for his evolving tastes. The meal today made up for spending his first birthday party at Chuck E Cheese being entertained by frightening animatronic animals that disconcertingly looked as if they slumped dead on the stage between shows.

We enjoyed a pleasant meal, and Ava seemed blessedly pretty normal after spending the weekend with her dad. She's been strangely subdued after her visits, and we've been worried. Maybe there is nothing bad wrong there and she's adjusting.

Today, she was climbing around like a monkey as usual, but suddenly stopped and said, "Uncle Steve!! You're fuzzy!" Then she started petting my head, chanting "Fuzzy, fuzzy, fuzzy!" Not only was it preciously cute, it emphasized that yes, blessedly, my hair and my beard are making appearances of trying to grow back out! I've really missed them. I'm also looking forward to having eyebrows and pubic hair again. I'm just sayin.

By the time we drove back home (Dad drove, in deference to my arm and the long ride) I was pretty tired, but I still had errands to run before I could go to bed. I stopped at two stores on my way home, ran to the post office, and then improvised something to take for lunch next week before I turned in.

A post in which I visit Russ, Billy, and Logan

Three of my favorite people in the whole wide world.

First though, I had to catch up on the 7,000 errands I had been to incapacitated to do the weekend before. I put together a list in my head and eventually started running errands. Although my arm hurt, and it was butt-ass cold, I did eventually manage to get it all done.

Encouragingly, I heard from Rick today. It was just to tell me that he was going out of town for the weekend, but the tone of his messages was encouraging, and hopefully I'll get to see him again. I'd like to.

Among the errands today was to go pick up my syringes of Lovenox and give myself my first solo injection, which I am happy to say went off without a hitch. The needles you use are really tiny and you barely feel them (they're like insulin needes), but you never know.

Afterwards, with cold-aching hands, I drove to the boys' house. We went out to dinner at a Thai Place I didn't remember even going to it had been so long. Kannikas Thai Kitchen is right on Haywood Road. Apparently the guys eat there more often than I do. I had favored a place here called Thai Sky before they went out of business. Royal Thai on Mauldin Road has great food, but the owner is such a jerk I hate going in there.

For some reason I apparently have an unquenchable yen for curry at the moment, so I elected for a Thai curry. They are pretty hot usually, but after talking to the waiter I ordered mine medium. I like spice, but don't want to cry at the table. The curry was delicious, but it was really, really hot. I wanted to eat it, but in the end I just had to give up. Everyone else seemed tickled with their food. I'll got there again, but I know to order mild next time. Live and learn.

Afterwards we went back to the house and I visited for a while. I talked to Russ, Billy, and Logan about that they had done for me during treatment. I had intended to do this Thursday when I took them to their Thank You dinner, but one thing led to another and I forgot what I had intended to say. When I went to their house, it was like they were tossing me little nuggets of blessed normalcy. I was desperate for that since I felt like my whole world was going crazy. Those little nuggets of my real life were like the pebbles Hansel followed home in the story. They led me through some pretty dark forest.

Except for my insanely hot curry it was a nice evening. It's always good to get some boy time in.