Life, Continued

So. As I and many people agree, Mom is both perceptive and hilarious. She wanted to know why the engineer had wasted 4 or 5 years of my life. Since our second anniversary would have been this month, I wondered if this meant that my life speeds up as I get older, kind of life dog years. But no, I informed her, it was only 2 years. (Apparently my mom is as angry at him as I am. Heh. I feel free in saying all this stuff here since he has never read my blog while we were going out [in retrospect, perhaps a hint I should have picked up on] so I don't see why he would start now.)

Today's conversation with Mom continued in this perversely entertaining but erroneous manner for a while until my express bus to MSKCC arrived. Today was my first check up with the oncologist since I stopped treatment.

Everything seems okay (more details on my tamoxifen test in a minute) but I will not feel at ease until Wednesday, since my onco-doc won't get my blood test results until tomorrow. These tests screen for cancer antigens and other happy signs. So if I do NOT hear from her tomorrow, well, no news is good news! If I do hear from her tomorrow, I will be a nervous wreck.

But on to more positive results, like the genetic testing for my tamoxifen metabolization rate. I got to swab my mouth just like the "perps" on CSI, and send in the swabs for analysis. Apparently I am an "intermediate" metabolizer, so while my body doesn't chow down on it like Oreo cupcakes (see above -- YUM!), neither does it spit it out like beets or mint jelly (flavors I personally loathe, okay?)

This is a relief since there are apparently few alternatives for younger women like me that aren't toxic. Ick. So I am perfectly happy with being (as always) a "B" student.

Yes, I had so gotten out of the habit of blogging that I completely scarfed down the Oreo cupcake I ordered on Sunday afternoon at Society Coffee, a mellow cafe near me with deliciously frosty air-conditioning (it was around 90 on Sunday AND humid -- ugh) and free wifi after 4pm on weekends. Hence, the photo above is taken of one of the survivors under the cake dome. The frosting tastes like pureed Oreo filling... Mmmm...

While I was hiding in the air-conditioning, I was pondering my vacation options for the rest of the year since I have 16 days left (!) and intend to spend them all travelling to cities starting with the letter "S".

In chronological order, they will be Seattle (hi Margaret!) where I can indulge in my fascination with her adorable son, San Francisco (hi, Bim! hi Shelley!) which was postponed from last month due to viral gastroenteritis, and Shanghai(woo!) which I never got to see properly since I was working like I fiend when I was there in 2006, although I did find time to snap a photo of that bizarre statue above (and no, I have absolutely NO idea what it is, besides a possibly demented looking fish).

My cousin Peyen is living there now for work, and I have enough FF miles to go there in business class (yippee!) -- a critical consideration since a direct flight from Newark is almost 15 hours! Also, I was pondering squeezing in a side trip to HK or Beijing (hey, Brian -- are you around in late November?) while I was there...

I also have been knitting away at a sweater for my almost-cousin Sonya's future daughter. Gotta admit that the Little Bubbles design from KnitPicks is simultaneously addictive (endless color combo possibilities!) and monotonous (endless rows of stockinette...)

So all in all, I seem to be doing better post-breakup than pre, surely a sign that I done right. Not that I still don't get into funks now and then (and I have apparently quite a reservoir of resentment bottled up) but on the whole, I have been doing a lot more Stuff generally.