Balance~ma, Jen!

Oh my dears. I've been away 1200+ messages worth and see now so much loss and illness and _stuff_.

My condolences, get wells and best wishes to all.

Nothing much to report from my new life in MD. Little bumps here and there but nothing at all like the stress of the last 7+ years.

This morning, one of my dearest people experienced a house fire...everyone is okay...that will redefine the rest of their lives.

That news made me want to check in with you all. It's funny. I identify as a non-joiner, but whenever that comes up, I mention my 'invisible friends' and have to contradict myself.

I'm glad you are here and send all my support and appreciation.

Nice to see your pixels, bk!

The potential ER danger zone has passed. We're on the downswing. Thank you for the solidarity.

My father always hurt himself doing stuff like that.

Timelies all!

Had my regular cleaning at the dentist this morning. Everything looks fine, so I go back in 6 months.I've been good about keeping up with my dental(and mental) health, but not so much with general health. I've finally gotten off my ass and put in a request for a physical with a new doctor. (My previous doctor went to a concierge practice that was way more expensive than I could afford.)

JZ and I are back in LA again for her latest infusion. This is the last one that will require an arduous 10 hour day at the hospital (as they measure the new drug's absorption into her system every couple hours).

After tomorrow the infusions will be regularl 3-4 hour affairs, and JZ can just come back to the hotel and crash.

This chemo (FOLFIRI) is very exhausting so she's been sleeping a lot, and we've had to learn to manage the new symptoms (way more nausea/puking). But we are getting a handle on it. (24/7 anti-nausea meds.)

I brought a ridiculous number of prescription drugs down on this trip. 12 bottles plus Lidocaine cream and Fenty patches. There's night time meds, morning meds, maintenance meds and experimental drugs. Most of it symptom management to keep the pain in check and her bowels regular.

Haven't got our TSA pre-check sorted yet but that will make a huge difference when we get it done. The worst part of the travel has been the cab ride from LAX to the hotel. Our driver today was very heavy on the braking so it was lurching and nauseating the whole way.

I've scouted out the surrounding area a bit and found some posh restaurants with affordable Happy Hours. So I managed to have two cocktails plus grilled asparagus for the price of one cocktail at the hotel bar.

On our next trip down I've lined up a couple of social visits, including one with Phil the Gambler (who lives not far away in Bel Air).

Feel free to ping JZ in the afternoon tomorrow as she'll just be sitting in a chair with her laptop and a stack of Terry Pratchett books.

Speaking of Pratchett, the podcast Imaginary Worlds did an episode on Discworld this last week!

Best of luck on the trip to LA this week, David & JZ!

This year my sister talked me into a weekday season pass at Bear Valley, which is just 40 minutes from her cabin in the mountains. Unfortunately, we only got 2 days of skiing in before the incredible winter storms came in, and came in, and came in. We were planning to spend 3 days skiing next week, but apparently Bear Valley closes for the season on Sunday!

So I am taking tomorrow off, and we are driving up tomorrow morning to at least ski all afternoon. And then we drive back to the Bay Area on Saturday morning, so we can spend the afternoon dress shopping with my nieces. We all need dresses for the wedding in June, after all...

I'll have to look for that podcast.

I hope the weekend trip is smoother this week, JZ and Hec!

Just got tickets to see the Ft. Lauderdale Symphony perform Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto this month. I have never seen it played live. This is without a doubt the one piece of music that I have played more than any other. I used to go to sleep to it nightly decades ago. When it comes up on my playlist I always end up repeating it. Don't know why it has always been my favorite, but I just love it. Anyway, apparently it is the composer's 150th birthday and they chose this one, just for me I am sure. They are also doing Bruckner’s Te Deum, which is in the whatever category for me. I'll sit through it. I am excited.

Also, I don't know if you can read my local newspapers articles, but sad loss of art in one of the homes destroyed by the flooding. [link]

The Fort Lauderdale-based artist and puppeteer known for leading Florida’s longstanding Day of the Dead parade had just lost more than half of his handcrafted paper-mâché puppets to the murky floodwater that crept up nearly 4 feet in his artist studio.

He lives over near the park where I take Skinner downtown.

Oh, that is sad. I have been seeing news stories about all that and thinking of you, Laura. Glad you get to see your favorite piece of music soon!

Hoping JZ is having an easy if necessarily long day! Glad there is a lot of Pratchett to keep her company.