Monthly Archives: March 2015

Heavy Heart

Day 3 and well, I’m still trying my best to create new habits, like blogging every day. Fuck man, I’m always cutting it close, but somehow still managing to get ‘er done. A lot has been on my mind lately. I’m more emotional than usual. For example, I watched some video recently on social about a surfer dude and his 19 y/o Remy lookalike dog. The dog passed away, and you could see, the guy grieved for a long while. Goddamn, his dog looked a lot like Remby! I miss my little Bembo.

In other news, J has been unhappy with his profession/work/career for many months now. We are making changes, but the cycle always feels so reactionary after so much damage has already been done. Meanwhile, I fell off the health kick a while back. Now I’m on some insane snacking rampage, and my pants are getting tight. I’m not in utter despair or anything. I realize the situation isn’t dire, but shit man. Those goddamn Combos and Girl Scout Cookies. I was never much of a junk food person, but now, I get cravings. Just like the snack producers planned I suppose. Whatever. In due time, I’ll wean off and get back to normalcy. It’s just an example though where I feel like control is slipping away, some bizarre indicator of more rough waters ahead. Ah well, come what may. Probably a good exercise for me in coping and tolerance.

Birthday Celebration

So I’m trying the whole NaBloPoMo exercise… Day 2 of the month.

Today, Bubbey turned 39. He’s been feeling a little down lately, grappling like I often do with how fast time has passed. I’m starting to feel a bit like a broken record, but seriously, it wasn’t that a long ago when we still felt like we had our “whole lives ahead of us.” Now, I feel stressed a lot, like there is a race against time. I only have so many more years left as a mobile and relatively healthy individual, free from arthritis, blindness, disability, senility, whatever. Yeah, every day we’re still trying to figure out this puzzle of how to “make it all count.” WTF.

My parents called today. Their elliptical FINALLY delivered, and the team assembled everything in an hour. Of course, now the thing is going to just sit there while my parents are on travel… oh well, glad it’s done and ready for use when they return. Winter back East sure has been brutal. School closures and shit. Crazy. Hope their flight tomorrow is trouble-free.

Bubbey worked from home today. I left the office a little earlier than usual to you know, pick up a card and get home in time so we could do something low-key and celebratory. We hit up a nice Italian restaurant right across the street from the theaters. Had an old man waiter, but boy did he hustle!! I was impressed with his attention to detail. After the meal, we arrived at the vacant theater about an hour before movie time. We thought about going home and coming out again, but we knew better, so how better to kill time than to play games at the arcade inside. OMG, every game takes like 4 tokens ($1) min to play. When did THESE prices happen? We did pinball and then a driving game, where I had no idea who was what. In real life, I’m an awesome driver (ha!), but shit, I was crashing left and right in this damn scenario. The whole fucking thing only lasted like a minute. Rip off. Ah well, I was then quickly distracted by DDR. Goddamn, I really suck. But heck, my 4 tokens bought me a damn good time. I had a blast stomping on those arrows, looking like a frickin’ fool. Goddamn rhythm. I hate you, but fuck, you’re not gonna stop me from having fun! 

When movie time finally rolled around, we watched the Will Smith film, Focus. Cool in that there were some bits about sleight of hand kind of stuff (for thievery), but the plot and acting were pretty bad. Bubbey is 0 for 2 now on movie selections. We saw Inherent Vice several weeks ago, and shit, I wanted to walk out so badly. Ah well, I did enjoy being one of 5 people in the movie theater tonight. And for once, I actually saw several trailers that seem promising. Fuck man. Nicholas Sparks is at it again, and this time the master storyteller is pulling out all the stops with a love story that involves a cowboy AND bullriding. Yup, no shame. Gotta see it. I mean, to be honest, as much as I love the Notebook, it’s not like I fall for EVERY single Sparks book or movie out there. He’s definitely had some duds in my book. That said, I have a good feeling about this one. It follows the same basic pattern as the Notebook with that little extra something, something. Haha. 

Well, right now, birthday boy sure is snoring up a goddamn storm. Who can concentrate enough to blog? Time to call it quits. More tomorrow, maybe.

Marvels of Medicine

My dear friend N was at UNC-CH hospital last week for two surgeries aiming to re-fuse the vertebrae in her back. Last September/October, while she was smack dab in the middle of living the life– being fit, active, mobile, healthy; going out; doing activities, and making new adventures– she seriously injured her back while playing tennis. The following months were a daily, unrelenting struggle, trying to stay afloat day to day. In January, after realizing she simply could not continue with the chronic pain, she decided that back surgery was her only chance at regaining a normal life.

I didn’t make much mention about all of this, what between my bitching and moaning about poor work quality and shit customer service, but obviously, there were many risks involved with N’s surgery, and to be candid, we were all walking on eggshells. Today, I’m so thrilled and happy to report that both procedures went really well, and N went home today– ahead of schedule even!!! I am reminded of the true marvels of medicine. After both of her surgeries (one Wednesday and the other on Friday), within hours, she was walking (albeit weakly and with considerable pain around her incisions) about in her room, and she immediately noticed the absence of nerve pain down her leg. She was so relieved and hopeful and excited to get her life back.

Both times after I spoke with her in recovery, I felt overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude. This is medicine at its best: science, technology, knowledge, and skills all coming together to transform lives in the most dramatic way!! The very thought just moves me to tears. Before all of this, N was in so much pain; she was unable to stand for extended periods; she couldn’t do her job; she laid around in bed a lot… All of us were so worried, because prior to all of this, she had fought such a long and arduous battle, losing tons of weight to finally lead the active lifestyle that she’d wanted. For the first time since forever (buds since the 7th grade), she was happy. And so this injury was utterly life-shattering. Now, N has a new opportunity, full of hope and promise. My heart is full, and I am grateful.

Starting Anew

Ok, so I got a good bit of venom and negativity out of my system with that last post. Thanks for letting me vent. I’m starting fresh now. Did you know March is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month)? I actually participated in this way back when in November 2013. Writing a blog post every day for a month was quite a challenge. Apparently, now the promo happens every month, but there are different themes. March is news, with prompts like this. Eh, so many rules to follow. I like to freestyle that shit. We’ll see if I can up my posts this month.

As things are already, I’m still taking that social media marketing class. It’s eight weeks total, with homework due Wednesday and Sunday nights. I actually just turned in my Week 6 homework a day early. Yup, I am on that shit! I actually wanted to have all of tomorrow free, because it’s Bubbey’s bday on Monday. Hopefully, by the time he awakes tomorrow morning, I’ll have an outline planned for our day. I know, I’m cutting it close, man! 

Today was a fun day. My buds in Fremont had us over for lunch and chilling at their new house. We hung out, cooked, played with their two little boys. It’s pretty funny, because I don’t have an affinity for kids and yet lately, kids have been seeking me out! My coworker has an 8 y/o girl. She came to my office last week to sell Girl Scout Cookies. I bought 5 boxes, and then while she was waiting for her mom to wrap up, she came back to my office and sat in the chair across my desk… and just sat there looking at me. Naturally, I felt compelled to start talking to her. Meanwhile, I had some cookies on my desk, which I offered. She proceeded to eat the entire sleeve that I had just purchased from her!! 

Funny. But uh, it was weird. I was thinking to myself: “Hey kid, you know I’m not into kids, right???” I mean, I don’t hate them or anything. I just don’t feel like a natural comfort around them.

So anyway, at my friends’ house today, their first born had me all out in the rain playing with him! Granted, he and I are pretty familiar: when I wasn’t working, I hung out with his mom regularly, so he’s comfortable with me. I followed him aboard his “ship” (i.e. the park) and we traveled down a chute to check on his legions of workers in the ship bowels (i.e. we stood on the storm drain and pretended to go down the chute) . Then he had me gather sticks and leaves to make weapons. That boy. He’s quite imaginative, and admittedly, I got sucked in.

I also had an interesting revelation today. I realized that as we and our friends are getting older, more and more, we all prefer to cook and entertain at home. It’s such a big shift from our 20s, when the thing was to go out. Like I remember in Shanghai, we had these friends who were an “older” couple (i.e. in their late 30s/early 40s), and they would always host elaborate dinners at their house, with dishes made from scratch and lots of fancy wine. J and I always felt so out of place, like who the hell are these swanky people? Why don’t we all just go out to eat at the restaurant? Now, more than a decade later, we’re like those people. I’m not exactly sure what’s changed. Maybe we have a different take on value? Maybe we’ve had far too many mediocre restaurant meals that it doesn’t make sense to go out and blow money on another dud dining experience? I dunno. Maybe there’s just something more comfortable/lower key about hanging at someone’s house. Partly, I like having my uke/Jenga/karaoke/liquor cabinet all in easy reach for me and my guests!

Ok, well clearly turning in my homework gave me a second wind, and now all of the sudden, it’s 2:15a. Time to hit the sack. Still no idea what I’m planning for Bubbey tomorrow. Guess I’ll figure it out after I wake up. 🙂 After my whole tirade, turns out I’m a slacker myself!