Happy birthday, Communist China! Today was the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in honor of which, the Empire State Building was lit in red and yellow, the colors of their flag, both last night (when it was already October 1st in China) and tonight. Ain't it pretty?
Of course, some idiots had to weigh in (check out this Newsday article for details) on how dare they condone totalitarianism, blah blah blah. As my friend Sam succinctly put it tonight, "It's been 60 years. They should just get over it." And considering that the PRC currently holds over US$800 billion of our public debt, they should just put up or shut up. (Well, it WAS over US$1.2 trillion a year ago, but then, hey, the world economy imploded and now it's only worth $800B.)
I'd invited Sam over for dinner, since I still had a giant slab of pot roast left over from feeding my engineer this weekend. It tasted even better after some more time in the oven. And afterward, I had some rapidly ripening bananas which I decided to convert into baked banana doughnuts.
As part of the recipe, I also used up some light and dark brown sugar I had left over (I figured substituting 1/2 cup of dark for light didn't really matter), and the resulting color contrast amused me. (Yes, as we all know, I am easily amused.) The finished product resmbles and odd but not unpleasant mutant banana muffin/cookie hybrid.
The super-fluffy dough rose and most of the holes merged again, whereupon Sam made a comment which I found hilarious, and still has me bemused hours later.
Evidently this merged-hole phenomenon is not unusual in donut-making (especially if you are an inexperienced donut-maker, as I am) and brings to mind "an unfortunate sphincter-like resemblance" as Sam puts it. HA!
Me? I just thought they sort of resembled bagels, but once Sam made his observation, I could not put it out of my mind. Heh.
Earlier in the day, a friend from Pittsburgh was in town for her bi-weekly business meeting, so we went off to Ise for some lunch, although due to her meeting schedule, we missed out on the semi-secret Japanese-menu-only sushi specials.
Since their regular sushi/sashimi menu is quite reasonable (for sushi), we weren't too upset. I had the Sansyoku Don (see left) which had 9 pieces of sashimi (3 each of salmon, tuna, and yellowtail) over a bowl of sushi rice, while Lynne had the Maguro Sushi (left, further down) which had what I call the tuna trifecta: 9 pieces of tuna is various forms.
Each was less than $20, and after we hoovered them down (my first post-chemo sushi meal! hoorah!) we jointly attacked an order of crab shumai (see right).
And to balance out the fun aspects of my recovery from treatment (sushi's back!) the new phase -- radiation -- is starting to kick my a**. It's now about 4 weeks into radiation (18 down, 12 to go!) and I've noticed this week that I am really starting to drag, energywise, which is to be expected, from what I understand.
After all, once again, I am essentially mildly poisoning my body 5 days a week, and my body is rather tired from constantly repairing the damage. Oh well.
On the bright side, during yesterday's weekly check-in, my radiation oncologist (my engineer once became confused as to WHICH doctor I was referring to, since I see so many these days, so I try to be more specific now) was very pleasantly surprised at how I was doing and encouraged me to keep up my diligence re: twice daily slathering of Eucerin (think: palm-sized dollop).
Actually, it's a little unnerving how surprised she was! If this is okay, I'd hate to see really bad. I mean, right now, my upper left torso is bright red (a la bad sunburn) with parts of the skin turning a leathery dark brown (ick! eew!) and lots of itching, interspersed with intermittent sharp aches and pains in the region.
The pain is more the stabbing type -- like when you lift something too heavy -- as opposed to the residual pain from a muscle strain (after you lift something too heavy).
So yes, back to sleeping on my right side, and avoiding hugs from friends. (Did I mention that I yelped after my engineer's best friend hugged me good night recently? The poor man was startled -- as was I! Ouch!)
And speaking of long, seemingly endless slogs, here's the surrent state of the traffic circle outside my window. There IS actual (creeping) progress since the plywood walls have come down, and there is a sign posted with an actual estimated end date (in magic marker) of November 2009. However, considering the FIVE years it's taken to get to this stage, I will believe THAT when it actually happens.
And now, long past time for me to collapse. I was ready for bed 90 minutes ago, but hey, babbling on at length here actually takes some time, even though reading it takes mere minutes... only 12 more treatments left!
Of course, some idiots had to weigh in (check out this Newsday article for details) on how dare they condone totalitarianism, blah blah blah. As my friend Sam succinctly put it tonight, "It's been 60 years. They should just get over it." And considering that the PRC currently holds over US$800 billion of our public debt, they should just put up or shut up. (Well, it WAS over US$1.2 trillion a year ago, but then, hey, the world economy imploded and now it's only worth $800B.)I'd invited Sam over for dinner, since I still had a giant slab of pot roast left over from feeding my engineer this weekend. It tasted even better after some more time in the oven. And afterward, I had some rapidly ripening bananas which I decided to convert into baked banana doughnuts.
As part of the recipe, I also used up some light and dark brown sugar I had left over (I figured substituting 1/2 cup of dark for light didn't really matter), and the resulting color contrast amused me. (Yes, as we all know, I am easily amused.) The finished product resmbles and odd but not unpleasant mutant banana muffin/cookie hybrid.
The super-fluffy dough rose and most of the holes merged again, whereupon Sam made a comment which I found hilarious, and still has me bemused hours later.
Evidently this merged-hole phenomenon is not unusual in donut-making (especially if you are an inexperienced donut-maker, as I am) and brings to mind "an unfortunate sphincter-like resemblance" as Sam puts it. HA!Me? I just thought they sort of resembled bagels, but once Sam made his observation, I could not put it out of my mind. Heh.
Earlier in the day, a friend from Pittsburgh was in town for her bi-weekly business meeting, so we went off to Ise for some lunch, although due to her meeting schedule, we missed out on the semi-secret Japanese-menu-only sushi specials.
Since their regular sushi/sashimi menu is quite reasonable (for sushi), we weren't too upset. I had the Sansyoku Don (see left) which had 9 pieces of sashimi (3 each of salmon, tuna, and yellowtail) over a bowl of sushi rice, while Lynne had the Maguro Sushi (left, further down) which had what I call the tuna trifecta: 9 pieces of tuna is various forms.
Each was less than $20, and after we hoovered them down (my first post-chemo sushi meal! hoorah!) we jointly attacked an order of crab shumai (see right).
And to balance out the fun aspects of my recovery from treatment (sushi's back!) the new phase -- radiation -- is starting to kick my a**. It's now about 4 weeks into radiation (18 down, 12 to go!) and I've noticed this week that I am really starting to drag, energywise, which is to be expected, from what I understand.
After all, once again, I am essentially mildly poisoning my body 5 days a week, and my body is rather tired from constantly repairing the damage. Oh well.
On the bright side, during yesterday's weekly check-in, my radiation oncologist (my engineer once became confused as to WHICH doctor I was referring to, since I see so many these days, so I try to be more specific now) was very pleasantly surprised at how I was doing and encouraged me to keep up my diligence re: twice daily slathering of Eucerin (think: palm-sized dollop).
Actually, it's a little unnerving how surprised she was! If this is okay, I'd hate to see really bad. I mean, right now, my upper left torso is bright red (a la bad sunburn) with parts of the skin turning a leathery dark brown (ick! eew!) and lots of itching, interspersed with intermittent sharp aches and pains in the region.The pain is more the stabbing type -- like when you lift something too heavy -- as opposed to the residual pain from a muscle strain (after you lift something too heavy).
So yes, back to sleeping on my right side, and avoiding hugs from friends. (Did I mention that I yelped after my engineer's best friend hugged me good night recently? The poor man was startled -- as was I! Ouch!)
And speaking of long, seemingly endless slogs, here's the surrent state of the traffic circle outside my window. There IS actual (creeping) progress since the plywood walls have come down, and there is a sign posted with an actual estimated end date (in magic marker) of November 2009. However, considering the FIVE years it's taken to get to this stage, I will believe THAT when it actually happens.
And now, long past time for me to collapse. I was ready for bed 90 minutes ago, but hey, babbling on at length here actually takes some time, even though reading it takes mere minutes... only 12 more treatments left!
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