Vacation -- A Saturday

Ask me about Twix Head Spa. You can find their videos on YouTube. Also ASMR. And autism.

And now that you did, yesterday was rough. The murder of Alex Pretty happened. Multiple eyewitness videos documented the incident including, presumably, his own. That's the second ICE murder in Minneapolis in a week. It's easy to feel helpless in these times. Also guilty, because it's the first day of my vacation and we are going to Hawaii. But I located the scheduled protest locations in Honolulu, and am bringing cardboard and some markers in my suitcase.

I was too depressed to do much. I worked on my vacation list of things to do. Then I went to get a mani-pedi because I knew the result would make me feel more human. My usual place (the place where I've been a time or two) was busy so I picked a larger place that I'd never been to before. It was very nice.

I mostly like mani-pedis when they're over. There's the question of whether or not to interact with the stylist. There's the scrubbing of the bottom of the foot (I warned her that I might scream, and I clasped my face the whole time). Then there's trying to fiddle with your purse to pay without ruining the manicure.

All success! But it was a sensory extravaganza. There was soft female music playing. A song about a sweater that was polyester. And the world's longest ASMR video where they do things to a lady's head and hair. Endless, endless treatments. Steam, water, ointments, soaps, halo contraptions that are suspended over the hairline and shower you with tiny jets of whatever. Then the neck massage with a thin, smooth rock, and an arm massage. At one point I asked the manicurist if the treatment ever ends. I guess my expectation was that you'd dry off.

Occasionally she'd press a button on my chair and the uncomfortable lumps would move around on my back. Massage. I did try to lean into the experience, because you should.

As usual, I felt really good after the mani-pedi was over. But getting to that point is a sensory overload.

When I got home our dear friend was there. We hung out until late in the night (for us!). I fell asleep watching an autistic comedian and doing online tests about autism. She had me at clothing tags being too scratchy. Also I think her tone has affected the tone of this post. But I feel somewhat seen ; )

I woke up and told mrguy about the salon experience. It made him anxious. Maybe I'm making you anxious as well.

Is Minnesota the place where our next civil war will take place? I would not have guessed.

A Saturday

Iron loading! The second set of blood tests were a mixed bag. Some normal, but some results the same. Apparently I have iron deficiency anemia. This week I ate iron rich foods, and also fretted. I read somewhere that alcohol can inhibit iron absorption, so I'm on the wagon at the mo'. And that Vitamin C assists in iron absorption, so I bought a bag of Cara Caras. And dried apricots and prunes. My favorite cereal (plain old Cheerios) with whole milk goes a huge way toward my daily allowance of iron. And finally, after I pressed for it, they prescribed iron pills. I also have to do a fecal kit this week. Gross! At the end of this week I am meeting with my gyno to see what they were able to determine about my innards. Then we go to Hawaii.

Saturday was great. Last week's magnificent lasagne went away happily, and chili is about the most iron-rich thing you can make (two kinds of protein from meat and beans, plus Vitamin C from tomato sauce). Yes, I know it isn't really a traditional chili, but it's delicious -- and shut up. Traditional guy family chili, augmented by "cheese Stonehenge". Ahhhh.

While buying my ingrediments for the chili, I stopped off at the pet food store. My cat grass crop is so sad that I've had to ration it, and boy kitten loves it so. This is what he looks like after he has had his fill of grass. Soooo happy.

We watched lots of Trevor Noah on Saturday, finishing the interview with John Oliver. Then on to the one with John Stewart. During one of the segments two owls began a conversation outside. So good. Then we started imitating them. Boy kitten was going nuts, in his usual mayor position on the window sill, with the window open. After a few tries on my part the owls began responding to me. 

I'm not sure what we were talking about, but it was a delight.

Post Op

I got my hoo-haw did today. All parts are still there, but they checked things out, took samples and will report back. Here's why.

In August I poked myself while administering an etrogen tablet. Ouch! It bled, so I went to the gyno. My appt was our first meeting, so he wanted to be extra sure about the state of my organs. He ordered an ultrasound.

The paid professional administering the test to me was unable to find the target location, if you get my drift. PAID PROFESSIONAL. Human. Biological female. Kept jabbing me in the pubic bone instead of finding the TARGET AREA. Oy. Also did a shit job on the imaging.

I had to do a second ultrasound. Got the images. Doctor wanted more information. He made an appointment to get in there and take some samples. My body would not cooperate. Had to do an in-patient procedure under general anaesthesia. And that was today.

In the meantime, someone ordered some bloodwork for me. I have anemia. I asked what the next steps are after this diagnosis, and they said that as soon as we figured out my bleeding situation (via the diagnostic procedure we did today) the anemia should right itself. I pointed out that the bleeding was a one-time situation 6 months ago. I'm giving this a day, and then I will ask them to tell me what to do about the anemia. In the meantime I'm eating iron rich foods and cut out alcohol.

As for today? I can't keep my eyes open. My nethers hurt. That anaesthesia stuff really works. And I can't stop using the restroom. I am going to hit the sack, now, and see if I can sleeep off the drugs.

Return from Vacation

The week at work was up and down. Pulling materials and prepping for a YouTube shoot. Trying to remember what to say in what order on camera. Turning right around from on-camera talent to Right away pulling together digital collections of material we showed off on camera for our colleagues to use as stills in the filmed segments. Pause the action to do photo documentation of some offices with a photographer at work. He reminded me that there was a New Year's mochi pounding underway, so he and I went to that.

I participated in the pounding. That mallet is so heavy! And then they made mochi balls with the still-warm mochi and put out two sauces -- red bean paste and a thick shoyu sauce. It was beyond delicious. Then back to work.

On Friday I worked from home -- still collecting the digital files for the YouTube segment. Mrguy wandered in and mentioned that during the night before he'd had one of those episodes. Kind of the worst one yet. He told his oncologist, who asked him to go to the ER to get checked out. So we did. I brought my work computer so I could continue with the project, but the connection wasn't great. Still I was able to hand off, and explain to my colleagues what I'd been able to accomplish so far and, more importantly, what I had not.

Mrguy is fine. The odd thing about this episode is that it's been mysterious. He has them during infusion or close to the time of infusion (day of, and now night after). His doctor has removed various drugs from his regimen, only to have the episodes continue. This time he only had 5FU. But he had *no* 5FU once, and it still happened. He's had it on and off Kanjinti. And I believe on and off Oxaliplatin, but I'm not sure about that. It's gotta be his pre-med regimen. This would be good, because he needs those drugs in order to be alive, and stuff.

In the meantime, his regular neurologist has handed him over to a neurologist who specializes in seizures. And, in a few weeks, he's going to have an electroencephalogram *while* having his infusion. Bring it on!

I liked this plant that was in the ER parking lot...pretty in winter.

Penultimate Vacation Day

Vacation was niiiice. I like vacation. On the last day, we painted alebrijes. I bought them for Christmas, because one of the most relaxing days we had on our cruise in 2013 was a few hours painting alebrijes in Cozumel. Ahhh.

So that's what we did last Sunday.

We listed to the Red Album [aka Sons of Hawaii: Folk Music of Hawaii]. I bought it in mint condition many years ago, with autographs of all members, including Gabby Pahinui. We also listened to Buddy Fo Live at the Shell Bar.  

There was drama in real life, as the cheapo paint I bought for the project wasn't very thick. 

Mrguy pivoted after his purple was thin *and* wouldn't dry, and moved on to using black, which was thicker. He ended up making the most darling alebrije. 

My bottom layer of paint was thick and dried fast, but none of the other paints would cover it, so I needed to make the other paints mix with white (thick) for contrast. I often say that constraints are a good thing. I wound up really liking my result. After a while I used a tool that I bought in Bautzen many years ago that is used by Sorbian folks to decorate Easter eggs with colored wax. That really helped.

Our new friends have joined our original friends on the kitchen shelf.

And I started a little touchup on a pencil sharpener that an old boyfriend gave me years ago. I only use mechanical pencils, but I think this little friend is so sweet that I keep him around.

So ends holiday break 2025.

Happy New Year

One of my pet peeves is people who say good riddance to the previous year, assuming the next one will be better (or just out of habit). My prediction for 2026, although I'm already enjoying the numbers, is that it will continue in much the same way. Find joy where you can. Create joy where you can.

I already found joy in this 1986 photo depicting a Macy's Parade balloon of Betty Boop. She goes into the public domain in 2026, and this is the photo accompanying the article about that fact. The balloon seems to be deflating, and it looks like the photo was taken before the local neighborhood was cleaned up. The marquee at the bottom advertises 3XXX Hits "French Erotica" and "Naughty Girls". This, sports fans, is the New York of the past.

[But back to misery]

I wrote this on New Year's Day, but didn't publish it. In the ten days since, "we" have:

• Overthrown the regime of Venezuela, captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife and thrown them in jail in Brooklyn
• Murdered a protester in Minneapolis, which was recorded on many phones on the scene and then told the world that we did not see what we saw
• Told the world that we were planning to take Greenland by force if necessary
• Stated that we were going to cut off Venezuela's oil to Cuba, which relies on Venezuelan support for some of its livelihood
• Threatened to bomb Iran

I'm sure to be forgetting something. There is so much, every day.