Month: May 2013

the new york yellow

I’ve had this site bookmarked forever, and last night I went over there to have a look. Fretting over prices, and import rules, I gave up. Then I went to my favorite auction site (no link for them because they really don’t need more exposure) and found the one I REALLY wanted for a fraction of the price. Thanks, disappointed bag buyer in New York! I’m sure this will make us both very happy.

that tree

I don’t know how many photos I’ve taken of this view. I pass it most days on the trail where I hike in the Santa Cruz mountains. It’s close to my house, and on the weekends the trail is full of bicyclists, families, and dogs. Weekdays, or early in the mornings, it’s empty. When I was younger and stronger I used to run up here every morning before work. The hills are green for a few weeks in April and early May. The rest of the year, yellow like this.

yes, a lovely time sponge

I seriously challenge you to get anything done after you’ve tried geoguessr. This super addictive game gives you images from somewhere in the world using google street views, and it’s your job to guess where it is. You deliver your guess by placing a pin somewhere on a map of the world. Obviously you are limited by where google has had their cameras work, and after a while you learn the blind spots. But other than that it’s completely addictive to try to guess locations based on vegetation, the color of the lines in the middle of roads, street signs, years and models of cars, and the presence or absence of over sized pieces of communist art.

oh-high-oh

Five years ago today I was a couple of weeks into 20 weeks of chemo therapy treatments. I had just lost my hair and the drugs were kicking my butt. I wasn’t scared. And that’s what boggles my mind when I think back.

I’m having my annual mammogram this week, and it’s freaking me out. I’ve had a few of those after treatment, and every time I’ve been shaking, or crying, or both. Last year I felt dizzy and had to go sit down before we could finish. (If you’re a woman you know it’s not just one x-ray either.)

Maybe it’s a delayed response, or maybe it’s just the overall knowledge that I could have died. No, that I would have died hadn’t it been for modern medicine.

Right now I’m making plans to go to a wedding over the 4th of July weekend, in Ohio. A friend of mine is getting married to his boyfriend — or, rather, they have chosen July 5 to celebrate the fact that they got married a little while earlier, in a state that recognizes gay marriage.

The two parts of this story are unrelated, more or less. I’m glad to be alive, and I’m glad Noel and Kyle can get married. Times change.