Yesterday was supposed to be another epic day - the Wheel of Fortune Wheelmobile was here in SLO, and I was finally going to get my chance to showcase my only great talent, unjumbling words. This is a disease I have had for years. Driving around, I will take a word from a sign and start rearranging it into all the other words that can be formed from the letters. Often I get to the point where I cannot recall the starting word, and those letters will roll around in my head for hours, until I solve it or the letters land in one of the holes in my head and are gone. I almost always do the Jumble in the daily newspaper in my head in 30 seconds, and the big Sunday Jumble in under a minute.
Almost every night I watch the Wheel, and scream at the contestants that solve too early and miss their chance at big money, or can't figure out an obvious puzzle, or ask for a letter that is already used. So I went over and signed up for my spot on the Wheel. You could sign up for one of three hour slots, and then come back at your designated time.
When I came back for my time, there were about 200 people milling about. The MC said they were looking for enthusiasm, and everyone seemed able to muster some. The MC called groups of five, and they went on stage and each gave a brief summary of who they were and what they do. The five on stage then had to solve a puzzle, each getting 3 seconds to give a letter and chance to solve. Everybody got a prize - a hat, a pen, or some other trinket.
After they went through about 40 people, time was up for our hour slot. I never got a chance. The whole thing was a lottery, and even those of us that didn't make it up to the stage still have a chance, although lesser, to get called for a second audition. Solving the puzzle first did not increase your odds, so they said, but if you made it to the stage and made an impression, your odds were much better to make round 2.
I was thinking as I drove away that I should have signed up for one of the later times, that most people would go for the first slot, and there would be better odds on the later times. Oh well. Here I am always chiding contestants on the TV for bad gamesmanship, and then I blow it (maybe). I was depressed the rest of the day. My only chance now is to get through to Pat Sajak and get him to agree that 'Warrior Week', all contestants that have battled cancer, is a good idea. I would of course get a chance then.
In the middle of my post-Pat pity party, I told the wife that I was sick of these doldrums, doing laundry and dishes, and messing up the shopping and cooking. She blasted me, of course, pointing out that I didn't work, had everything I needed or wanted, had free time to golf, lived in paradise, and generally had it better than most in the world. I tried arguing that I was working as househubby, but she didn't buy it. She wasn't going to let me have a pity party, and this raised my hackles and I began defending myself as best I could.
That's when my clutch went out. I said to her, 'This is why men do not open up to women, because when they do, they get bitch-slapped.' I did not need that 'bitch' qualifier on my slapping, but my clutch slipped, out it tumbled, and now I must pay the fine. A week of silence? Two weeks in solitary? Banishment? Whatever, I'll do the time, and I am sorry I said it. I've tried replacing that clutch, but can't do it. It's a centrifugal clutch, like on a weed whip or chainsaw, so it engages as it revs up, and those have always been difficult to manage. Oh well. I misspoke and I am sorry, Dana.
It's probably time for me to take a road trip, load the car with the camping gear and head out, points unknown. I feel bad for Dana, who is trapped in my cancer as much as I am, and can't get a break from me. She is dying to plan a trip to Ireland, Scotland, and England this summer, but I keep wavering based on my doc's wish that I stay within 5 hours. Is it worth the risks to go on what could be one last great vacation with the boys? Are the risks that high? I am leaning toward going.
On a more cheery note, Mike has been accepted into PCPA conservatory (http://www.pcpa.org/ ), so we know where he will be the next two years. His buddy Sean is also accepted, so they have a car pool. The downside is that Mike knows the rest of his time at SLO High is meaningless (he has to pass Econ), so he is slacking big time.
The drama club is performing 'The Servant of Two Masters' right now, a commedia dell'Arte play, and Mike is the servant Truffaldino. It is a tough play, lots of fast-paced dialogue, but the troupe did a good job the show we saw. If you get a chance to go see it, go next Thursday or Friday at 7pm, or Saturday matinee at 3pm. The only play left after this is a Monte Python coffee night on May 1st.
Rememer those last few months of high school, bittersweet times when the world was your oyster but you might get food poisoning from it? Full of possibilities but with new responsibilities, oh to be young again.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Grounded
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Dana is really wanting to do some traveling this summer; we haven't gone anywhere in years, thanks to leukemia. Australia was right up there on the list, and fares just dropped quite a bit, but my doctor reminded me that we aren't out of the woods yet and they don't want me too far away, in case some version of graft versus host pops up. The end of the woods are 18 months from day zero, meaning around April 2010. Whose woods these are I think I know. Criminy!
Maybe Quebec or Montreal for a week this summer. I am very open to any suggestions. If you have the inclination, post a comment with your favorite vacation that was in North America. Spring Break is coming up, starting April 10, and we have been trying to meet up with my brother and his wife in Bryce Canyon or Zion, in SW Utah, for a few years. This may be the chance if we don't mind the cold, 25 at night and 55 in the day. I'd prefer camping but not in that temperature. The Stone Canyon Inn cabins look nice. http://www.stonecanyoninn.com/cabins.html Any advice is appreciated.
Another boring day in store for me. I will get the corned beef in the slow cooker in a minute, and then putter around on household chores, then go to the practice area at the golf course for a while, and then come back to finish cooking dinner. What a life, so stressful. I feel bad for Dana, who has had to increase her stress level while mine drops, as long as I don't ponder the future too much. And I don't.
Dana is really wanting to do some traveling this summer; we haven't gone anywhere in years, thanks to leukemia. Australia was right up there on the list, and fares just dropped quite a bit, but my doctor reminded me that we aren't out of the woods yet and they don't want me too far away, in case some version of graft versus host pops up. The end of the woods are 18 months from day zero, meaning around April 2010. Whose woods these are I think I know. Criminy!
Maybe Quebec or Montreal for a week this summer. I am very open to any suggestions. If you have the inclination, post a comment with your favorite vacation that was in North America. Spring Break is coming up, starting April 10, and we have been trying to meet up with my brother and his wife in Bryce Canyon or Zion, in SW Utah, for a few years. This may be the chance if we don't mind the cold, 25 at night and 55 in the day. I'd prefer camping but not in that temperature. The Stone Canyon Inn cabins look nice. http://www.stonecanyoninn.com/cabins.html Any advice is appreciated.
Another boring day in store for me. I will get the corned beef in the slow cooker in a minute, and then putter around on household chores, then go to the practice area at the golf course for a while, and then come back to finish cooking dinner. What a life, so stressful. I feel bad for Dana, who has had to increase her stress level while mine drops, as long as I don't ponder the future too much. And I don't.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Flame on
There were a lot of comments on the last blog, and some clearly pointed out my lack of singing or acting talent. Let me remind you, I was 'Life' in that eighth-grade play, and the guardian of the gates in 'Oz'. And, I have pulled the wool over the eyes of management in every job I have held and school I attended. No comment on singing. Re: those comments, is Steve Steve McElroy from high school? Must be, he knows I was the muscle behind the drama.
Actually it was mostly lights I did, while Steve was one of the finest actors I have known. I can still picture him stealing the show in everything he was in from tenth grade on, and in the big senior year play reciting his final line, 'Remember me in lights', dressed like a scalawag, bringing down the house. I'll be damned if I can remember which show it was. That info must reside in one of my brain-holes. One of the cool things about McElroy getting up on stage is how it brought the whole badass tough guy element into the theater. Steve, what's going on?
This shitstorm of an economy is kicking us all. Usually I try to feel bad for just myself, but today I am going to think of Anonymous Bill in RI, who may have to choose between dogs and digs soon, the 1st BMT patient foreclosed out in RI. See http://www.projo.com/news/bobkerr/kerr_column_11_03-11-09_1UDJG10_v12.3864216.html. Bill, I am golfing today, and I am dedicating that sickening feeling I get from my first duffed wedge shot to your pain. Hang in there and repeat after me, 'This too shall pass.' I have some second or third cousins named McNiff, Tommy and John, but I think one of them died tragically young. Are we related? Silly question, everyone from RI is related.
There ought to be an easier way to fill these holes in my brain, like brain bondo. The learning of new things to increase brain plasticity is not going that great. I've been doing some cooking lately, and have taken most of the opportunity afforded to screw things up. For years I have given my wonderful sisters-in-law grief when they burn the garlic bread, to the point where they don't do it anymore. The other day, I was broiling the bread, and when the spaghetti was done and the phone rang in mid-broiling I lost focus until Mike pointed out that the bread was on fire!
Now I never saw that in the feasts of the past, not actual flames. I threw the bread into the sink and hosed it down to put it out, which was too bad because most of it was salvageable. Oh well, fuel for the boys to torment me with. Once, I grabbed a bottle of salsa instead of tomato sauce, and I never hear the end of the resulting inedible spaghetti dinner.
My doctor visits are dwindling down. Tomorrow we go to Stanford for the first time in weeks. The local doc has checked me a couple of times, and I am fine, which is what they will say tomorrow. I suffer from always being cold, because my metabolism is whacked out, and I am weak but getting stronger, and I suck at golf which I always did, and my brain has holes and is slower. I remember the radiation doc telling me back in July of '05 that after cranial irradiation I would get dumber but I wouldn't notice. I've noticed.
Mo noted in one of his comments that his grandfather said he lived on memories. I am trying to fill up my memory banks so I can keep-a-goin, and luckily I get to use home movies et al to help me.
Actually it was mostly lights I did, while Steve was one of the finest actors I have known. I can still picture him stealing the show in everything he was in from tenth grade on, and in the big senior year play reciting his final line, 'Remember me in lights', dressed like a scalawag, bringing down the house. I'll be damned if I can remember which show it was. That info must reside in one of my brain-holes. One of the cool things about McElroy getting up on stage is how it brought the whole badass tough guy element into the theater. Steve, what's going on?
This shitstorm of an economy is kicking us all. Usually I try to feel bad for just myself, but today I am going to think of Anonymous Bill in RI, who may have to choose between dogs and digs soon, the 1st BMT patient foreclosed out in RI. See http://www.projo.com/news/bobkerr/kerr_column_11_03-11-09_1UDJG10_v12.3864216.html. Bill, I am golfing today, and I am dedicating that sickening feeling I get from my first duffed wedge shot to your pain. Hang in there and repeat after me, 'This too shall pass.' I have some second or third cousins named McNiff, Tommy and John, but I think one of them died tragically young. Are we related? Silly question, everyone from RI is related.
There ought to be an easier way to fill these holes in my brain, like brain bondo. The learning of new things to increase brain plasticity is not going that great. I've been doing some cooking lately, and have taken most of the opportunity afforded to screw things up. For years I have given my wonderful sisters-in-law grief when they burn the garlic bread, to the point where they don't do it anymore. The other day, I was broiling the bread, and when the spaghetti was done and the phone rang in mid-broiling I lost focus until Mike pointed out that the bread was on fire!
Now I never saw that in the feasts of the past, not actual flames. I threw the bread into the sink and hosed it down to put it out, which was too bad because most of it was salvageable. Oh well, fuel for the boys to torment me with. Once, I grabbed a bottle of salsa instead of tomato sauce, and I never hear the end of the resulting inedible spaghetti dinner.
My doctor visits are dwindling down. Tomorrow we go to Stanford for the first time in weeks. The local doc has checked me a couple of times, and I am fine, which is what they will say tomorrow. I suffer from always being cold, because my metabolism is whacked out, and I am weak but getting stronger, and I suck at golf which I always did, and my brain has holes and is slower. I remember the radiation doc telling me back in July of '05 that after cranial irradiation I would get dumber but I wouldn't notice. I've noticed.
Mo noted in one of his comments that his grandfather said he lived on memories. I am trying to fill up my memory banks so I can keep-a-goin, and luckily I get to use home movies et al to help me.
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