The woman was probably, oh, forty-ish. Her face was just lined enough to show that she’d been through some years, but not enough to make her look like all of her youthful days were behind her just yet. She sat at the cafe table, an unopened book and two coffee cups in front of her. She drank from one; the other was empty. She took an uninterested sip as she looked off, toward the front door of the place; then she put down the cup and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length brown hair. Her bangs were mostly held back by the sunglasses she had perched atop her head, but a few strands hung down, low and loose over her eyes; these she occasionally pushed aside but she mostly didn’t seem to care. And so she kept looking around, looking down, looking at her book, but mostly looking toward the cafe door. She would stir her coffee, even though she hadn’t put anything in it. Then she would look again toward the door.
On this went, until she finished her coffee. Then she waited five more minutes before she got up, put on her coat, and filled the empty cup that she had bought for her unmet companion before she left, book in hand and sunglasses lowered back over eyes that were filling with tears.
(Inspired by, and embellished from, a woman I saw today.)
In accordance with my complete lack of interest in what constitutes “fashion”, I have apparently been committing a possible fashion no-no for years, in the form of the “Double Denim”. This is a denim top coupled with denim pants. I, of course, take it one step farther by wearing the denim shirt under denim overalls (albeit hickory striped, in this case). But in general, I fail to see what this woman is doing wrong by pairing denim with denim…or this one (dance step aside)…and then there’s…well, you get the idea.
Generally, I like the way denim feels, so why not pair it? Double denim rules!
UPDATE: I would later don double denim — this same denim shirt with another pair of overalls — for my 40th-birthday pies in the face. Double denim still rules!
You know what no one told me about when I was diagnosed with this cellulitis thing? As it heals and the abscess clears up and the swelling abates, the skin in the affected areas will be really loose, and begin to peel and itch. A lot. Now it feels like I’m molting and have poison ivy.
Sure would have been nice if someone had mentioned this. S’all I’m sayin’.
Sorry, folks, but real life has been kicking me in the arse the last few days. I got nothin’, so I’ll be back when…when I’m back. But I will be back!
It’s mainly this damned infection on my knee. After missing two days of work, I got back on the job, which felt OK…but my knee is at its most sore when I’m enjoying what there is of my Prime Writing Time, so I’m focusing what little energy I have on my current Work-in-Progress. The knee is getting better, but it’s a slow, annoying process.
Beneath the fold, of course. I’m not that cruel. (Except to you folks who read this on Google Reader, because there’s no “beneath the fold” on Google Reader. You folks just need to scroll, really fast.)
I got a cut or sore of some sort on my right kneecap oh, ten days or so ago. Didn’t think much of it; in fact, I don’t even really remember how I got it. But damned if it didn’t get infected. This was annoying enough…but it continued to get worse, to the point where I’ve now been nursing an annoyingly painful abscess right on my kneecap. Which means that the damned thing flexes every time I walk.
Actually, walking is fine; once I get moving, I can get around, although it’s a bit less of a perky gait for me than usual. Sometimes it’s an outright limp, even, but I can get around. Sitting is OK, too, although too long in one position and the abscess and the skin around it start to itch a lot. But what really hurts? What’s really painful? The transition from sitting to standing. That feels like I just dipped my leg in acid and then tried to clean the acid away with a rag dipped in napalm.
Oh, and did I mention the fact that the abscess is located directly underneath this nice big callous I’ve had on my knee for years? That makes it fun trying to draw out the pus filling the f***ing thing with heat packs. At least those heat packs feel good when applied…but they lose their heat too quickly. I need a USB-powered heat pack!
And things would really suck in a major way if my day job frequently involved doing tasks that have me on my knees for extended periods of time. Luckily that’s not…oh, wait. Yeah. Ouch.
So anyway, this morning The Wife and I noticed that not only is the abscess and the knee not looking any better, but the infection seems to be spreading down my right leg toward my foot. I was planning to call the doctor on Monday if I didn’t see any improvement by then, but this discovery pretty much bumped that notion way up the Priority List. So we were off to an Urgent Care place, where I was diagnosed with cellulitis, after the lovely PA broke my heart by saying, “I don’t think there’s any use in lancing that abscess at this time. We won’t get much out of it.” That had been all I was praying for…Cut that damned thing open, squeeze all of the shit out of it, bind me up, give me some antibiotics, and let me go heal. No dice…except for the antibiotics, which I got, first by IV drip and then by oral tablet.
(Oh, and today was my first ever IV drip. Never had one before.)
The Urgent Care place was very nice, although we won’t know until we get stuff in the mail just what was covered by insurance there and what wasn’t. I sure do like that bit of uncertainty, lurking out there in the wilderness, so a heartfelt thank you to all our Galtian Overlords who steadfastedly keep us Americans from just opening up Medicare to all comers! (Actually, not really. You can all bite me.) The RN was thrilled that my veins are big and visible in my arm, and I got the remote to a teevee with cable for the half-hour it took the IV to run in, all to myself. Too bad that out of 70 channels, there was nothing on. I’m so glad we don’t bother paying for cable at Casa Jaquandor. The only downside to my visit was that my half hour of IV drippage was interrupted by another RN who came in to grab some supplies for another room; on her way out, she left my door open. I hate that. If it was shut when you came in, it should be shut when you leave.
So yeah, the days lately haven’t been the best. And yet, I soldier on. Yay rah.
(Yes, I took pictures of my leg. Will I post them? I dunno, anyone want to see them? I’ve been living with the thing, so I’m not terribly grossed out by it, and it’s mostly redness and swelling, no nasty-looking discharge yet. I’m working on it, though. When I nap lately, I dream of nasty-looking discharge. Sweet, sweet pus-filled discharge!)
Well, we’re less than six hours away from a new year, as I write this. It’s tradition here at Byzantium’s Shores for me to end up a year’s posting with this quiz, so here we go…but all things considered, 2010 was not a bad year for me, at all. Some things could have been better, but that’s always the case, and on balance…I like where I am heading into 2011. (I’m gamely resisting the fact that in general, it’s been the odd years lately that have been offering up various arse-kickings…but I’m not the superstitious type.)
So, the annual quiz for the end of the year!
Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Some yes, some no. Which is pretty much the way it always is. I learned more about the technical aspects of my job, and I have hopes that this will position me for a “jump up the food chain” at work sometime in 2011. I read quite a bit, but I never feel like I read enough. And I fell off the wagon a bit in terms of the “fitness” thing. But that’s a wagon easily reboarded, I think.
The one area I’m disappointed in myself is writing. I did not write enough, not by a longshot. That needs to change. I do have a new project, though, which is nice.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
You know, try as I might, I can’t think of anyone who did! Weird, huh? No one really close, anyway. I do have online friends who had babies. But no major births in the immediate vicinity of the Family Unit.
Did anyone close to you die?
No. This is where I tend to get nervous about the upcoming odd year.
What countries did you visit?
In the real world, the USA and that’s it. In lands of imagination, I visited lands far and wide. Worlds far and wide, actually! And that’s the way I like it.
What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
As noted above, I’d like to finally take the “next step” in both my career at The Store and with my writing “career”. I’d also like a router. (The woodworking kind, not the computer kind. Got one of those.)
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
This wasn’t a year for big achievements. It was, instead, a year for keeping the ball in motion, all the time. I think. I’m not actually sure where I’m going with that metaphor…hmmm….
What was your biggest failure?
Maybe one of these years I’ll just admit to myself that The Promised King is never going to be “finished”…but I don’t want to admit that, so I’ll keep pretending that it’s just on a hiatus and that I haven’t really moved on to stuff I’d like to do more than this story notion that I’ve nursed since college.
What was the best thing you bought?
I didn’t buy anything major at all this year! Just little stuff. Like the dragon incense burner that’s on my desk right now; that thing is crazy cool. (I’ll take pictures.) I bought quite a few books. Maybe the best thing I bought was a Christmas gift for The Daughter. She absolutely loved the movie The Phantom of the Opera, so I went to eBay and tracked down a replica of the actual music box from the movie/show. That was pretty cool.
Whose behavior merited celebration?
The Wife and the Daughter, obviously.
And the 2010 Buffalo Bills, whom I expected to be awful and who probably were (they’re 4-11 going into the final game), but they proved to be scrappy and tough and hardworking, all the things I was hoping they’d be. Except for winning.
And soon-to-depart-her-current-office House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She made a lot of great things happen. Yes, as a lifelong liberal Democrat I had hoped for more, but I have to admit that they did get a great deal of amazing things accomplished.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Tea Partiers: that coalition of standard Republicans and…standard Republicans. They are a scary, scary bunch of people.
Where did most of your money go?
Food, bills, books.
What did you get really excited about?
Guy Gavriel Kay had a book come out! Carl Paladino did not become Governor! The Wife and I took our annual trip together to Ithaca! The Family and I took a trip to Pittsburgh!
What song will always remind you of 2009?
Well…OK then. Watching last season’s Celebrity Apprentice made me like Bret Michaels a whole lot, and then he had some major health problems. And then, he won Celebrity Apprentice. And then, two days after that, on the finale of American Idol, this happened:
This moment made me cheer…and I don’t even like “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”. But that song will be forever associated with the year that Bret Michaels came back in a big way.
Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
Happier, I think.
Thinner or fatter?
Sigh….
Richer or poorer?
About the same.
What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing! And reading. And listening to music. And watching movies.
What do you wish you’d done less of?
I probably should have eaten less. But it was all oh, so good….
How did you spend Christmas?
Opening gifts, going to church, eating a turkey dinner, watching Elf and episodes of The Big Bang Theory.
Did you fall in love in 2010?
I fall in love every day!
How many one-night stands?
As if I’d tell. I’m a gentlemen. (And it was zero, anyway. I’m married, don’t you know!)
What was your favorite TV program?
Castle, The Big Bang Theory, The Amazing Race, Survivor (damn show finally wore me down), and Arthur. Because Arthur is awesome, and I’ll have words with anyone says otherwise. (And still Firefly, Star Trek, and I’m rewatching The X-Files.)
Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don’t hate. Hate is a bad emotion. But there are sure a lot of Teabagger-Republican types with whom I could have happily dealt never knowing about….
What was the best book you read?
GGK’s Under Heaven.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
This wasn’t really a year for musical discoveries. Maybe Alexandre Desplat, a film composer who has come on the scene the last bunch of years.
What did you want and get?
I wanted books, and got ’em. I wanted pizza a whole bunch of times, and got it! I wanted time with The Wife, and got it (although not nearly enough). I wanted some new hand tools, and got ’em. I wanted to hear the Buffalo Philharmonic live, and I got to do that; I wanted to make more food from scratch or at least try new recipes, and I got to do that. I wanted to hold The Wife’s hand, have The Daughter teach me to play videogames, laugh a lot, wear overalls, learn more about carpentry and other maintenance jobs at work, read more space opera, and go sight-seeing around the very town in which I live; I got to do all those things. And I wanted pies in my face, and I got those, too.
What did you want and not get?
Well, we’re starting to feel as though it’s time to look beyond apartment living. That’s all I want to say about that. And my car, faithful and trusty steed that it’s been, is a 1992 granny-mobile. I’d love to be able to replace it soon.
What were your favorite films of this year?
Of films that came out this year — Unstoppable and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. I rarely see movies the year they come out anymore.
What did you do on your birthday?
We celebrated my birthday with our annual trip to Ithaca for the Apple Harvest Festival. This wasn’t actually on my birthday, but a week later. Had we gone to Ithaca for the Apple Harvest Festival on my birthday, the Festival would have been disappointing, as it wasn’t held on my birthday. Hence the delayed celebration.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Oh, come now. All overalls, all the time. Well OK, not all the time. But my manner of dress hasn’t changed much at all in years, and I see no reason to change it now. I have zero use for what is “fashionable”.
What kept you sane?
Laughing; reading; writing; discovering that even though we’ve been together in one way or another for almost twenty years, I still have ways of getting to know The Wife; singing loudly in the car when I’m by myself; torturing The Daughter with awful puns (something my father did to me, coincidentally enough!); geeking out to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. And take it from me: if you ever feel that maybe you’re taking yourself too seriously, have your spouse or significant other hit you with a pie. It’s awfully hard to take yourself seriously when your face is dripping whipped cream and coconut custard.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Stana Katic. Melissa Rauch. Jenna Fischer (although her show is limping along). Tina Fey. Lisa Edelstein. Hugh Laurie. Crystal Bowersox. Jeff Probst. Nathan Fillion. Barack Obama. And that woman in the Geico commercial, the one with the little piggy that cried “WEEE WEEE WEEE” all the way home. Seriously — she’s on screen for something like eight seconds total in that ad, and she totally and convincingly conveys her enormous weariness with driving this annoying shouting pig around.
What political issue stirred you the most?
The health care bill, I suppose. Global warming, too.
Who did you miss?
I miss everybody who’s gone, even for a little while. I miss you folks when you don’t comment for a bit, or when my traffic’s down, or when I’m in a posting funk and not writing much. And I miss my characters when I’m not writing about them.
Who was the best new person you met?
I “met” some fantastic folks online this year. I won’t list them, but I wager they’ll know who they are. Some are part of the goofy community of “overalls wearers” that has sprung up online; others are hardware bloggers; some blog food, others geek culture. And I met some great people in person, too. Cool people rule — be a cool person!
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
I’m not sure it’s a “life lesson”, but I’ve become less afraid of screwing up this year. Sometimes you just have to plow ahead and deal with any negative consequences later. Besides, I’ve always loved learning and I’ve believed for years that we learn best by screwing up, so…bring on the screw-ups! Embrace your inner FAIL! It’ll make you better in the longrun.
And keeping the ones from years past: The Internet is made of people. Punting is for losers. Democracy works, eventually. Not all tears are an evil. Whipped cream is a miracle substance. So is ice cream. Use your library; limiting your reading to only those books you can afford to buy is madness. OpenOffice rules. Buy good tools, take care of them, don’t lend them out, and they’ll last forever. Savory or sweet, eaten or worn, from pizza to apple to coconut cream, pie is wonderful. Screw fashion; if it’s comfy, wear it. We’re not meant to be alone. No object fits in your hand so perfectly as your wife’s hand, and no object fits so perfectly on your shoulder as your child’s head. Let it be, and all you need is love.
And keep smiling, because you never know what life will throw in your face next!
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Here’s a song I like a lot. I like a lot of this guy’s songs a lot. It’s “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” by Jimmy Buffett.
I took off for a weekend last month Just to try and recall the whole year All of the faces and all of the places Wonderin where they all disappeared I didn’t ponder the question too long I was hungry and went out for a bite Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum And we wound up drinkin all night
Its these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes Nothing remains quite the same With all of our running and all of our cunning If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane
Reading departure signs in some big airport Reminds me of the places Ive been Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure Makes me want to go back again If it suddenly ended tomorrow I could somehow adjust to the fall Good times and riches and son of a bitches Ive seen more than I can recall
These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes Nothing remains quite the same Through all of the islands and all of the highlands If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane
I think about paris when Im high on red wine I wish I could jump on a plane So many nights I just dream of the ocean God I wish I was sailin again Oh, yesterdays over my shoulder So I can’t look back for too long There’s just too much to see waiting in front of me And I know that I just can’t go wrong
With these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes Nothing remains quite the same With all of my running and all of my cunning If I couldn’t laugh I just would go insane If we couldn’t laugh we just would go insane If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane
Excelsior, 2010! And bring on 2011.
(Oh, and if you’ve hung on this long, thanks for reading, whether you’ve read this blog for a long or a short while!)
Every year, we acquire new Christmas ornaments. Not a whole lot of them, but we pick up four or five each year. We do an “eclectic” Christmas tree, with ornaments of all types and sizes and shapes. We have traditional ball ornaments, painted-glass Santas, ornaments made by The Daughter in various school grades, novelty ornaments bought over the years at different stores that no longer exist, ornaments that have been gifted to us through the years. I’ve never understood the folks who do an entire tree in one color or motif or theme or whatever.
Christmas ornaments, to me, are only partly about putting pretty things on a tree. They’re also about memory. Each ornament puts me in mind of something or someone special to me and my family, and as we unpack them each year, I get to revisit those people and places in my memories. That’s what Christmas ornaments are about.
Anyway, as I said, we get new ones each year. It’s getting harder and harder each year to find room enough on the tree, and it may become necessary one of these years to get a bigger tree to hold them all. As it is, we find ourselves sadly relegating some ornaments to “back of the tree” status, where we can’t see them. But do we stop acquiring them? No way. Here are the notable additions to our tree this year.
The first three are from my parents, who took a trip to England earlier this year and brought these back for us. This is Queen Elizabeth I, who on our tree looks nothing like Flora Robson, Cate Blanchett, or Dame Judy Dench.
Here is Ann Boleyn. Look how bright her eyes are, as she looks forward to long and successful marriage to King Henry VIII! It’s almost like she has no idea that her head will, not too many years hence, be separated from her shoulders. Oh, those whacky English Royals through the centuries!
And here is the King of the Britons himself, the Majesty of England, the Once and Future King, Arthur Pendragon:
Ahhh, Arthur, I’ve missed you so. I should reacquaint myself with King Arthur one of these years. Heck, I had a book in progress about him, once upon a time….
Maybe the Christmas tree wouldn’t be the first place you’d expect to see a bizarre matchup of fantasy hero versus sci-fi villain, but that’s what’s unfolding on our three this year:
Arthur doesn’t seem aware of the danger that lurks behind him! Turn around, Arthur!
A few weeks ago, The Daughter and I took a trip out to look for new ornaments. Every year I let her pick a few, in honor of the brother and sister that she lost. For the latter, she chose this pair of birds.
And for Little Quinn — whose “official” color we always took to be red — she chose this.
So there they are, the new additions to the tree for this year.
(You can see more of our ornaments here, here, and here.)
Christmas has come and gone for another year, as it always does. As always, it was full of a lot of beauty and a little stuff that wasn’t so beautiful, but we’ll concentrate on the good, OK? Because I’m sure that none of you were naughty this year.
Or something like that….
The Christmas season for us began, as it does for a lot of folks, on the weekend after Thanksgiving. After an activity-filled Black Friday, we continued with the next day, traveling to my “ancestral” home in Allegany, NY, where my parents live.
This is the house where I grew up — at least, from June 1981 onward. The house didn’t always look like that; when my parents bought it there were no trees on the lot at all, and the house still had its original siding. In those first few years my parents did a lot of tree-planting. That big pine there, the one that dwarfs the house? My parents bought that at my request one day at some nursery when I decided that I wanted a tree, too. They further humored me by planting it right outside my bedroom window. Now that tree is so enormous that you can’t even see out that bedroom window anymore.
After that, the holiday season settled into a bit of routine, but it was pretty busy. There were a lot of church functions to attend: potluck dinners, Christmas pageant rehearsals for The Daughter, Christmas parties, and so on. Here’s our church’s roof after the first big snowfall of the year:
And there was the quarterly Used Book Sale at the library:
This stack is just what I bought for myself. The total I spent on these, plus books for The Wife and The Daughter? Fourteen bucks. God, I love the library book sale!
There was the sudden realization that I needed to buy new work boots:
I spent some time this Holiday season wondering about the aging process. Part of this is natural — I am almost 40, after all — but part of it was brought on by an odd lady at the library who actually asked me if I had kids approaching me thinking that I’m Santa. Huh?
I know that a gray or even white beard is on the way, but I’m not there yet! And I keep my beard fairly short. Portly guy plus beard of any color equals Santa? Huh? Should I therefore suspect that if I were to lose a lot of weight, I could look like Jesus?
Well…what else? There was one day when we were driving home and the sunset was behind us:
And there was the day I had to drive home through Bills-game traffic, including a bus destined for wherever “Test Pattern” is:
And of course, no matter how busy the Holiday season gets, one must always take time for kitties.
The Daughter has outgrown a lot of stuff. She’d rather read in bed by herself than be read to; she doesn’t remember ever liking Dora the Explorer. But one thing she has not outgrown is that wonderful sense of torture she feels from seeing wrapped presents under the tree that she can’t open yet.
And if she’s anything like me, she won’t be outgrowing that until she’s at least…oh…thirty-nine.
