Wednesday 6/22/22: My liver

 Mike arrives tomorrow evening (landing at 9:15PM at SFO). The plan is to get Hawaiian bbq and surprise him with the meal once he arrives. I think he'll love it! The 2nd bedroom and 2nd bathroom have been kept in immaculate condition since we cleaned on Sunday. In anticipation of the wedding, I got my nails done today so I'm currently a princess. 

Earlier today, I really let loose and told Nicola all about my frustrations with the no-infra remote requests we've gotten recently (Portugal, Colombia, Mexico, and Andorra). It's like herding cats/pulling teeth doing this work. I came off as extremely frustrated. Nicola made some suggestions that I was a little resistant to. I became embarrassed immediately after with the way I acted, but I know that Nicola doesn't think of it that way.

A couple of months ago, I went to One Medical to do a regular physical and did some lab work. Today (2 months later), I got an email saying "You have a few abnormal lab tests with your liver" and I was asked to make another appointment for treatment. :grimace: Oh man... I wonder what's wrong with my liver?? I did look at the test results once they came out in Apr and noticed that some of the results were outside normal range, but it took two months for them to get in touch with me... I have an appointment scheduled next Thursday, and I'm so curious about what I will learn. Perhaps I will die and then I wouldn't have to worry about no-infra remote requests again.

Sunday 6/19/22

 The travels and events will start again after this weekend. Yesterday (Saturday) was spent watching Season 4 of Stranger Things. We got through everything but the last episode by midnight, at which time we called it quits. The season is very good, but I don't like that the group is so split up. It's most fun when they're together, but I guess it's too big a group to do everything together. The most exciting things are happening in Hawkins, but Joyce and Murray's journey to Russia to save Hopper is very interesting and well done. Hopper's experience in Russia is so sad, but he is so strong! Very sexy.

Today, we cleaned. Cleaning is SUCH a chore sigh. But the place was filthy, and we also want everything to be clean ahead of Mike's arrival on Thursday. He's in town for Robin and Bryan's wedding, which is happening this Saturday at the Academy of Sciences. I am not even trying to watch my figure. I will also see Albert again this Saturday. And then we will have the pleasure of again seeing each other next month for Alex and Kate's wedding. I wonder how that will be.

Today is also Father's day. I called my dad to wish him a happy one.

After we finished cleaning today, we got pizza from Mountain Mike's, and also some chicken. After we finished eating, we left the chicken on the plates on the coffee table for a bit. I bustled about to do other things, when I suddenly heard a noise. I walk into the living room, and Rocky had knocked three chicken bones off the plate onto the floor, and he was eating! I dived in to pull him off and then kicked him out. We made up later.

6/16/22

 Hello there.

Gosh, it's been nonstop work for the last few days. The only real breaks I've taken have been to watch a full episode of Stranger Things while eating dinner. We're re-watching the entire series in preparation for Season 4, which is already out. However, there are two last episodes of Season 4 that will only be released on 7/1. I'm a bit nervous about watching 4 because others have told me that it's very violent. I probably wouldn't want to watch it while eating dinner.

Work work work. The last couple of nights, I stayed up until midnight working, only to finish the minimum! Tonight I finished much earlier -- 9PM. Sometimes I think perhaps it doesn't have to be this way. But I think I'm too lazy to try to find something else.

My mouth area is hot for some reason. The last few days, my lips have felt very very dry, no matter how much water I drink. I'm also forming a bit of a sore in the right back of my mouth. And I got a pimple on my left cheek today. I'll need to eat more cold foods. I'm going to Google it now.

..........

 Leafy vegetables such as lettuce and kale. Cold drinks, iced water and peppermint tea. Bitter herbs like mustard greens, chicory and dandelion leaves. Cheese. Green tea.

Luis has been very nice and supportive of me today. I'm extremely tired and drained today, moving very slowly. He did things today like hold my hand while he was driving us home. He was very accommodating to me. After we got home from the grocery store, he told me to set up my work laptop in his office while he put away the groceries. And he is doing the dishes right now. I feel very loved by him today.

Rocky is currently making biscuits and humping the blanket on the futon. He is so funny. Pike is outside. She might be looking right into the kitchen but because she's all black, she's hard to see. So I don't know if she's actually there.

6/13/22

 We've gotten to Season 3 of Stranger Things. I'm most scared of this season of the first three because it's the scariest. Billy is scary! What a great actor. I'm pretty apprehensive about the 4th season because I expect it to be horrifying.

Pika hung out with us for a little bit while we were watching TV in the living room. She was sitting so quietly in her pen that I didn't even realize she was there. When the episode ended and I started walking about, she couldn't take it and so left.

Rocky has been pretty sneezy lately. Hope he's okay.

Game 4 of the NBA finals is on right now. Celtics vs. Warriors. I think of Sarathi when I see the Celtics. I think about Nicole when I see the Warriors. Unfortunately, one of them will be very sad by the end of the Finals. 

After work today, Luis and I went to the Redwood City Library to check out some books. I rechecked out Both Flesh and Not by David Foster Wallace. (I just returned the Berkeley Library copy yesterday.) In preparation of picking the book back up, I also checked out "Bright Lights, Big City" by Jay McInerny and a book of Ludwig Wittgenstein's private journals.

When I see/think "Bright Lights, Big City", I think of the song the centipede sings in the movie "James and the Giant Peach". Bright lights, big city, that's where I wanna go. Where the something something and the something is pretty. Ba da da da da, da da da da you go. Ya love em, hold em, squeeze em tight, da di di, the briiight lights and the biiiig city. That's where I'll be, yeah. That's where I'll -- and then the spider interrupts his song. Good movie.

I was disappointed that the library didn't have some of Ludwig's philosophical works. I'm thinking perhaps I should read those first before I read his private journal, but I think that thinking is just the me who is super straight and inflexible. I'm sure it's fine. But what a strange concept that his private journals are now published for the world to read. Maybe he would've been fine with it, but it's a weird concept. Imagine if my blogs were published like 100 years later. I'd be pretty self conscious, and also a little incredulous, perhaps even a little weirded out, if there were people in the world interested in reading these silly things I sometimes and irregularly write. It'd be a piece of work for people to even be able to compile all my rando journaling since they're super broken up and I've used different things.

Alrighty, that's enough rambling. I'm tired now.

6/12/22

Luis is giving Pika and Rocky treats right now. It’s an almost-daily routine. The cats look forward to it every night, I’m sure.

Earlier today, we went to Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley. Luis is in a fantasy football league with Kirk and Kris (+ other adults). This year for determining the draft pick, they decided to go to do horseracing. I don’t know if they actually figured out how to decide the order, or whether they were even keeping track. In any case, it was fun!

The last time we were at Golden Gate Fields was with Haerang and Albert some years ago. I can’t even remember when it was. It was my first time at the horse race tracks. Today was my second time. This time, we got club seats, which were indoors and upstairs; very bougie. Last time, we were plebes who sat outside and downstairs. Being indoors had its perks, like, having a table to sit at and being able to just order things while seated.

While I enjoy a bit of light, low stakes gambling, I don’t think horse racing is for me. I put in $50 and had $16 left by the end. It was fun to bet, even though I didn’t really know what I was doing and didn’t win all that much. The horses have such fun names, like Stolen Vote, America Great (wonder of those two are pro-Trumpers!), Excessive Cat, Tiz a Thrill, Whisper and Wink, etc. I wonder how comes up with the horse names and how.

We stayed for all 10 races, which lasted from ~1-6pm, so it was an all day affair. Jenna and Jac were very appropriately dressed in dresses and hats.

After the races, Luis and I ate dinner at Korean Superette on Solano. It was a cute little place that doubled as a small market and a small restaurant. Luis ordered the Chef’s Spicy Ramen, and I ordered the Tofu Dupp Bop (rice bowl). It was delicious — I would go again! The food wasn’t too heavy.

Afterward, we went to Brad’s to check on and feed his cats. In trying to ensure that the food dispense was working, he broke it -_-. We then dropped a lot of the cat food as we flipped the dispenser upside down to try to fix it. I think we fixed it… but Casey texted and told me she witnessed it all! How embarrassing!