Life of Wry

I am full.  An interesting and thought-provoking Facetime conversation with a friend now living in Singapore (cheers to friendships, cheers to technology); a relaxed and beautiful MLK holiday in Davis (short on ceremony, but high on open-heartedness); a positive and light conversation with my mom (positive and light being the welcome operative words here); a kiddo who’s content as only a kiddo between semesters can be; a sweet and productive session with ye ol’ marriage counselor which is always a fascinating and wonderful way to spend an hour with my husband; and, AND, the completion of a project that’s spent nearly three long and lonely years at the top of my to-do list.

A good day, indeed.

Below is the final photo in the 2011 Nepal (and United Arab Emirates) Travel Blog (the now-complete project mentioned above).

Psssst.. this isn’t my photo.  Messing with my rules a little.

First, saw Her.  Three things I loved about it.   1:: I forget movies quickly; not sure why, but movies go in, and right back out again. It takes a special movie to stick, and this one will. Lately, I’ve become obsessed with where we are going technologically. I am so fascinated to be living during the information and digital age, even if it’s in its nascent stages, I just can’t tell you. I am certain this movie will become a reference point for me as I continue to obsess about the amazing things we’re suddenly able to do, and the even wilder things we’re going to be doing in the next 20-30 years. 2:: I smiled nearly throughout the entire movie. Movies don’t have to be funny, but it’s just so much fun if they capture me, surprise me, sustain me, impress me with something truly original. People are so clever; I love watching a movie in a state of wow. I’m really loving Spike Jones and loved watching Joaquin Phoenix. This one had me from the start. 3:: I like my plots character driven, especially characters in relationships. Especially relationships that are tragic. And with that, the trifecta’s complete.

Second, we’ve now seen, I think, every movie of 2013.  At least those that are being most talked about, written about, and awarded. There has to be one good thing about your kid growing up too fast and spending most of his weekend evenings away from home. We are seeing a lot of movies.

Peter and I logged another 3 hours or so of driving today: accelerating out of turns; pulling off the road for faster cars; driving into the sun; driving over those scary spikes that cause severe tire damage if you back up.  Lots and lots of conversation. Mostly about driving, but it’s pretty fun to spend this time with him. We talked about returning to do some hiking. 

Bonus: Berryessa was gorgeous, if somewhat low. These are taken up by the Oak Shores Day Use Area. I hadn’t been up that way before. Not very many people, either. It’s nice. 

Another bonus: got a great, wide-brimmed yellow cotton hat at the Markley Cove Marina/Store.  Yay. 

Was there ever a better name for a drug? Seriously, if you’re out to pair a drug’s name with the experience of taking said drug, this is a pretty damn good match.  (Well, in my universe anyway, having never tried ecstasy.)

Drug in question, fluorouracil.  I can’t pronounce it, so FU is perfect. One manufacturer calls it Efudex, which works, too, but isn’t nearly as descriptive. This is what Wikipedia says:

Fluorouracil or 5-FU (trademarked as Efudex) is a drug that is a pyrimidine analog which is used in the treatment of cancer. It is a suicide inhibitor and works through irreversible inhibition of thymidylate synthase. It belongs to the family of drugs called antimetabolites.

The cancer here is skin cancer, in particular basal cell carcinomas (of which I’ve had a few). It also treats actinic keratoses, small growths that could lead to the development of skin cancers.  Both the result of over exposure to the sun — beach, tennis courts, Scandinavian skin, yadda yadda.

Kind of a bonus that it is a suicide inhibitor, as well (I did not know that!).  Not to be flip about this, but when you’re applying 5-FU to your face twice daily, and dealing with its effects (dry, red, burning, blistering, itchy, peeling skin), a long walk on a short pier, with a plunge into icy water, sounds pretty great.

[Okay, I realize this is “suicide inhibitor” in the cell replication sense.]

For my scientist friends who, you know, need to know:

I’m on day 22 of a 24-day course. It’s been bright and stiff for the last week or so. I understand the best is yet to come (the peeling stage). Forgive me for picking the kindest, most flattering photo of the bunch (believe me, it is); I couldn’t bring myself to post any close-ups. And yeah, lipstick. You would, too.

Empathy welcome:

This is one of my favorite public art pieces in Davis. I’ll come back later with some information about it.  

I visited, for the first time, The Haagen Dazs Honey Bee Haven, on the far west side of campus. The Bee Haven, which opened in the fall of 2010, “is a series of gardens designed to provide a year-round source of food for bees and a lasting source of inspiration for the public.”  It has about 25 plaques which describe honey making and other bee facts; lots of different kinds of plants, shrubs and trees, all labeled; and lots of ceramic tile art work.  It’s nice.

This is a little drinking fountain for bees. Water drips onto a concert block.  It’s intended to provide water and a place to land, but ensures the bees don’t drown.  i’m told.

We took a walk through a few UCD orchards and along various crop rows. I was overdressed in a long sleeve tee-shirt.

Did you know this?

The Bee Haven is out by the University Airport, and some Viticulture and Enology fields and labs.  And a bunch of cow and hog barns. There is a lot out there. It was a lovely walk! What else does one do on a 70-degree January day in winter-challenged Northern California?

Peter, who turned 15 1/2 on December 24, decided he’d spend the Winter break getting his learner’s permit.  He selected and took an online course (about 15-20 hours of material to cover and around $30).  He passed their test (94%) and, a few days later, got a certificate in the mail. He took that certificate and $33 to the DMV, took and passed their test (missed 5 questions, I think), passed the eye test, got his picture taken, thumb print recorded, and, 90 minutes later, left with a provisional drivers permit.

As soon as we got home, we looked at a bunch of local driving schools and picked the one that had the soonest 2-hour slot open. The instructor showed up at 3:00 the next afternoon. At 5:00, it was legal for Peter to drive our car on public roads in the State of California (with us in the car, of course) and out we went for a long drive along city and county roads. In the dark.

[The driving schools aren’t cheap, this one was $270. So we’re in for about $330, or so. And to clarify, Peter’s not paying for it, we are. Well worth the investment. We’re also hoping to enroll him in a performance driving school, offered, I believe, at no cost by various tire companies. Under carefully monitored and safe conditions, they expose teen drivers to road hazards and obstacle courses so kids can get a better sense of handling the car and the car’s limits. Cool!]

In the 10 days since, he has driven every single day. We’ve gone out for 1, 2 and even 3 hour road trips; he’s driven to baseball practices and the store. It is very awesome.  He is taking it very seriously. He listens very intently to whatever I say when dispensing driving advice.  He listens to my experiences with this driving challenge and that.  He asks good questions. Did I say he’s very serious?  He is very serious.

What I didn’t expect is that, not only is he showing incredible responsibility behind the wheel, he is suddenly stepping it up in other ways.  Last night, we were practice-driving and he wanted to stop at Trader Joe’s (for sticky orange chicken, of course). I said okay. He wanted to push the cart (he never pushes the cart). He asked if I wanted to wait in the car because I’m embarrassed about my face (that efudex treatment that’s making me look like I set my face on fire) while he finished the shopping (I didn’t, but appreciated the offer!) (I’d wondered when the empathy thing kicked in). Leaving, he offered to carry the bag (also a first). While driving home, he said something like, “Driving has been so much more comprehensive than I thought.” I said, “What do you mean?” (thinking to myself, comprehensive?) He went on to say that he is noticing things more, how things work, for example, he pointed out a turn lane and said he’d never noticed all the different ways one can turn off a road. And not just driving; he said he’s more in tune to all kinds of things, things he’d never noticed before.  Huh, I thought.

I am realizing that driving has sort of heightened his awareness for the world around him. And it’s made him feel more grown up. At home, he’s been voluntarily doing things that we ordinarily have to remind him to do. He’s stepping up, assuming more responsibility. Acting like a young adult. Being the one who ventures into his bathroom daily, I’m in a unique position to observe his grooming habits.. and I’m seeing the nail clippers out regularly and he suddenly seems to be current on his braces maintenance tasks. He’s hanging his towel up. He’s clearing the table without reminders. He’s eating new food. He’s been really polite lately (with us), conversational (with our friends), open to suggestion, and acknowledges when maybe he’s screwed something up.  He was totally okay with our Christmas morning plan.

As I write this, he’s in the kitchen making custard. Yes.

It’s been coming for a while, not just the last week, but the driving thing seems to have kicked it into a much, much higher gear.

Last night, I cautiously remarked that driving seems to have kicked him into a whole nuther zone of responsibility and maturity, and he smiled and just said, yeah.

After well over two years (two years and nine months to be exact), I have completed (well, nearly) the travel blog of my Nepal trekking adventure. Concerning the fate of this blog, people in my inner circle have heard me commit, recommit, table, resume, lament, whine, promise, and stress BIG TIME over the fact that I started this project shortly after my return from Nepal (in April 2011) and Just. Couldn’t. Finish. It.  I’d initially gone gangbusters on the blog, and in fairly short order–at least steadily–debriefed and detailed 13 1/2 of a 14-day trek. Well done, me! But that’s as far as I got. The project has utterly, sadly stalled.  Relentlessly, it has occupied a line on each and every to-do list I’ve made for about two years.

My intentions had been so genuine and the task so straightforward, but other things just kept getting in the way. Honest to god, if it wasn’t one thing, it was another. Legitimate things–projects for others, home & family projects, holidays, trips, and then just life’s minutia. Being a tad anal, I always felt as though I had to clear my desk (completely and totally, apparently), before I could clear my mind, before I could muster the focus to wrap this thing up. And the longer I was away from it, the harder it was to ease back in. There’s a lot to be said for being in a groove on something like this… and I lost my groove; it wasn’t something I could easily pick up and resume.  

The absolute worst and most horrifying part of this whole thing is that when one of our group had this wonderful idea to give the organizing member in our group a thank you photo book for all her efforts, I said, “oh…   don’t do that; I’m blogging our whole trip and I will make a photo book and I’d love to give a copy to everybody,” and she said, “oh, well, okay then, you do it, that would be great!”  And then I didn’t. And, to make matters worse, every time I talk to one of the members of our group (except for the organizer one), I mention how close I am to finishing it. It’s become just been one big crying wolf story.  They have long since given up on the idea there will be a photo book or travel blog.  It is painfully, mortifyingly embarrassing. 

I’d also told the trekking company, the wonderful Himalayan Glacier Trekking, that I was going to do this and I would send them a link, or produce a book for them. Yeah, right.  All of their trekkers probably say that.  (And most probably follow through.)  

Loooooozer!

I’ve just felt terrible for almost three years. But I had so many other things to do.  So many other things.  Always.  Something.

But, lo and behold, I got through all my stuff. That actually happened. And after sitting idle for way too long, I started the Nepal blog up today!  And I finished the last half of the last day’s trek narrative!  

That’s the good news.

Now here’s a bit of a clarification: I’m not just blogging the trek, I’m blogging the week before when the four of us met up in the United Arab Emirates for a couple days to acclimate, and then spent a few days in Kathmandu. That part’s long done. And I’m blogging the last four days when we did the reverse (a couple days in Kathmandu and a couple days in the UAE). That is the last remaining piece. So.. yeah… I actually have a bit more blogging to go, but that’ll go fast, now that I’ve recommenced. There will be some editing and continuity to deal with before it’s all said and done (that’s what I get for spreading the writing project out over nearly a three-year period), and then, finally, the conversion to book format.  A bit yet to go, but I’m radically optimistic. 

Here is the evidence of progress: travel journal, guide book, maps, additional trip data…

And here’s where I get my photos… all consolidated in iPhoto…833 taken by me, and 1,823 taken by the other four in our group, for a total of 2,711 photos to look through to find the perfect ones to capture our experience!  All fabulous photos, too. All have been carefully organized so it’s not as tedious a process as it may seem.   

And with that, we are blogging, baby!   

We can pretend, can’t we?

Somewhere along Pleasants Valley Road.

I am loving having a teen driver in the house. Mostly. I’m loving that he’s hit this milestone, that he’s eager to get behind the wheel, that he’s showing himself to be reasonably, age-appropriately capable and responsible, and grateful we’ve racked up a full week of driving with no serious mishaps and only a few raised voices (it is control-freak me riding shotgun, after all).  

Today: F St, to Rd 29, to 113, to 80, to Pena Adobe, to Cherry Glen, to Pleasant’s Valley (and a short run up, then down, Cantalow as we realized there were too many bicyclists sprinting down the mountain on a narrow one-laner), to 128, to 505, to 16, to Cache Creek Casino, to Rd 29A, to 113, to Russell, to A, to home.  104 or so miles.  He hit 80 mph once, had to use the windshield wipers, had to pull over numerous times to let cars pass, practiced a sudden stop, and had to negotiate the parking lot at the casino so I could pee (our only argument).

All in a day’s work.  

Some drive-by gorgeousness: