Vague Wisdom

I received a very unexpected gift yesterday. I was sort of waiting on a CD I had ordered. So when loracs told me I had a package, I assumed that that was it. The box was overkill for a CD, but Amazon can be odd in their ideas of appropriate packaging. On opening it I found *bacon*! (is that a heavenly choir I hear?) Three packages of bacon in different flavors. One is hickory, another is called butter (I’ll have to try that one first). The third flavor I don’t remember, but it has the essential ingredient: Bacon! It took me a while to figure out where it came from, although I had my suspicions. Somehow we misplaced the sender’s name, but we eventually found it. My sweetie, serene sent me the food of the gods.

Years ago serene bought me a bacon-of-the-month-club membership as a present. I think I got more enjoyment out of my then vegetarian girlfriend sending me animal products than I enjoyed the actual meat. The idea tickled me greatly. Anyway thank you so much Buttercup. What a very special gift. I Love you.

I've been having a rough time lately, but managed to get out of my house yesterday to see my therapist (the first time in weeks and weeks). I've been feeling a little weak, so instead of schlepping from Telegraph all the way to Tuk-Tuk Thai Cafe on Shattuck (as is our custom). I decided to try this new place on Telegraph near my therapist Rangoon Superstars. loracs and I over ordered as we tend to do at a new restaurant.

We both just loved the place. I can't remember what soup we had, but it had like a potato dumpling in it. On the spicy side for me, but I'm a wimp and I still liked it. We had salt and pepper calamari which was amazingly tender. loracs loved the jalapenos that went with it. I was able to eat around the jalapenos and enjoyed the appetizer quite a bit. I had some garlic noodles with duck. She had a shrimp dish. I discovered a new favorite drink: Burmese Milk Tea.

I was happy to run into serene as she walked home from work. Lots of vegetarian options probably several vegan ones as well.

Went to Berkeley yesterday to hang out with serene. We haven't been seeing a lot of each other lately for various reasons on both ends. We had huge Pete's caramel lattes, then to the burger joint that used to be called Mel's but is some other a name that I can't seem to remember. I was in comfort food mode. So, for me it was bacon cheeseburger with their homemade chips (restaurant made? They aren't prepackaged chips) and a glass of milk. caught a movie for the first time in forever. We had planned to see The Adjustment Bureau but all the accessible seating was gone. Changed our tickets, and ended up seeing Joueuse The English title was Queen to Play with Kevin Kline and a French actor Sandrine Bonnaire. Jennifer Beals had a very small part as L'Américaine. It is in French with English subtitles. A fun, sweet little movie. Nothing earth shattering, hardly any sex or violence. Not one car chase! What a bore! :-) It's about a woman who cleans a local mom-and-pop hotel and picks up a little extra cash cleaning some people's homes. For some reason she becomes fascinated with chess and eventually enters a local chess tournament. I was amused at some of the sports movie clichés popping up in this film. Worth a look if you like that sort of thing. After the movie I was getting a little cold, so I headed home. A really nice day.

Have you noticed how wonderful today is? Happy Dance!

My house has a pretty large backyard, especially by SF Bay Area standards. We were also bequeathed lots of trees back there. Most of which we ended up getting rid of, but we did keep several fruit trees. Our plum tree has been going crazy this year. loracs brought in several plums to show off and serene lit up with the idea of canning some. So it was off to Longs for canning stuff. We didn't find all we needed at Longs, but eventually we got it all. For awhile our kitchen was transformed into a canning factory extraordinaire with all four of our stove burners going. I think we bit off a little more than we could chew, but serene did manage to fill 23 half pint jars of golden yellow plum preserves.

I didn't do any of the heavy lifting, but I am a fine cheerleader and fire watcher (got to make sure all the flammable items are far away from the burners don't you know). I'm indecently pleased at eating things that have grown from my own backyard. Even though I did nothing to deserve it. I managed to grab my new favorite Jamba juice drink; a chocolate, peanut butter and banana concoction that I can't seem to get enough of lately, while out buying equipment. If that wasn't enough, serene also made some kind of Spanish fretata (sp?) thing (or perhaps you would call it a potato eggs and cheese omelette) that I got to have for dinner. I really liked it. I started the day with bacon and coffee made by loracs. Watched plum preserves being made from my very own tree. Watched a little Battlestar Galactica and Buffy on DVD. Slipped in and a little long-overdue TMI. It is good to be me today.

Do my sweeties know me or what? In the last couple of days I received these two links: from loracs Bacon Camp and just now from serenejournal Bacon Flowchart

I came down with cellulitis yesterday (actually Sunday evening). I'm on antibiotics already, thank you on-call doctor, 24-hour pharmacy and especially my sweet, sweet loracs. I was disappointed because I had been feeling so physically strong earlier that week. Anyway, as often happens in my life along with the truly sucky stuff, there is a little good. I had managed to horn in on serenejournal and leback's lunch date yesterday. We were originally going to go out to eat, but as is often the case with cellulitis and antibiotics for me, the first few days make me very weak. So I wasn't up for going out to eat. I tried to "un-horn in" on the lunch, but they both decided to come over to my place. serenejournal made what I was told was a very tasty polenta. I tend to shut down when I'm sick and only really felt like drinking coffee and having a peanut butter and butter sandwich. We spent a truly lovely afternoon together. leback even brought me some peanut brittle (a favorite of mine). My joke for the afternoon was, "boy do I know how to show a woman a good time". Since the last time I saw leback she visited me in the hospital during my attack of pneumonia. The next time she sees me I'm down with cellulitis. I am a party animal!

Tomorrow will be my 50th birthday. It's kind of a startling statement to me. 50. I keep getting hit with the realization that I've been on this planet a pretty long time. Things that seem really recent like the 80s are a really long time ago for some folk. It is a really long time, and I'm not supposed to remember long ago. I'm the youngest in the room. I'm the one that doesn't get references to The Shadow or Fibber Magee's closet. Nowadays, I'm often the oldest in the room. I saw Star Trek when it first appeared on television. I remember the lunar landing. I remember so many assassinations; John, Robert, Martin and Malcolm.

When I was 3 I had no right to an education. Disabled women were regularly sterilized in ignorance and for their "own good". Nobody heard of a curb cut. Later, doctors told me not to count on a long life. My parents, never expected me to go to high school or college. They thought I would stay with them until they died and then perhaps live out the rest of my life in a nursing home. After all, that's where many people with disabilities ended up, they still do because of the lack of community-based attendant care. Yet I got through high school and even through college. I never managed a full-time job, but I'd like to think that my volunteer work has made the world a little better.

This year has been a rough one for me and for mine. Sickness has left me feeling fragile. I'm closer to the end of my life than the beginning and I'm hating it. I try to concentrate on the good stuff. All the people who love me and take care of me. All and wonderful people who make me a little part of their life as I make them part of mine. I never expected to make 50. I thought I'd made peace with that long ago. I was wrong.

I hope I find someway to cope with what's coming. I'd like to think that I have a little of that stubbornness I'm so proud of left to deal. I've said this many times in the last several months. This has been one of the hardest years of my life, but it is also the year that I realized how well loved I am. loracs, we've been together for longer than we've been with anyone. Thank you for this life we've made. serenejournal thank you for this life we've made. And to the rest of you, my chosen family, my blood family and to all my friends: Thank you for the life we've made.

Five years ago today, serenejournal and I had our first in person date. I met her at the Bayfair BART station on a Sunday. I was uncharacteristically bold (blame it on pent-up anticipation) and finagled a kiss right away. After a ride on BART, we wandered Shattuck Avenue and a little of University in Berkeley. Ate freshly made potato chips and leek soup at Mel's (which is now some unnamed restaurant, I think they are calling it Mike's?). We managed to visit The Other Change of Hobbit (my favorite genre bookstore) and ended up at a coffee shop on University (whose name I know but will not attempt spell). It was much too short a date. I love you Buttercup. Thank you so much for the last five years.

For those who don't already know, loracs gave birth to a bouncing baby gall bladder yesterday (or was it the day before yesterday?). I think she's in a little bit more pain than yesterday, but she's home. Thanks to serenejournal we have both eaten well, slept and it almost feels like we're back to normal.