Weekend in August

Marisa Jealous Pic, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

This past weekend nuptials took place in this location. We drove to Marquette, MI then 20 minutes further north and down a dirt road. Then we abandoned the cars for a 10 minute trail in the woods to come out on rocks overlooking the pond seen in this picture.

It was lovely.

Weekend in August

sunset, originally uploaded by sarah_laughingguts.

I can hardly wait

:)

Fear

I listened to the words of a song by Mat Kearney this evening:

Closer To Love

She got the call today
One out of the gray
And when the smoke cleared
It took her breath away

She said she didn't believe
It could happen to me
I guess we're all one phone call from our knees

I wonder if people really think about this? In the quiet moments I find myself dreading a bad phone call that will change my life in one single moment. But maybe it will be a single good phone call. There's this feeling that it's going to happen, probably more than once in a lifetime. Those turning-points can sometimes be pinpointed to one clear moment, can't they? Are you thinking of a moment?

Riding *yawn* Part II

Alright, the story: rode over the mighty I-94 to the PCBP and saw many interesting things, mostly in the people and dog department. So many dogs are teeny-tiny! I don't really think I'd want a super small one. Or maybe I just felt really tall because of zooming by on a bike?

Who knows.

Anyway, I had my helmet with me because when I was 12 I was in a mysterious accident and not wearing a helmet. Went to the hospital via ambulance, apparently, thought I was dying, and repeatedly told my father that I loved him. What I remember is pulling out of school and then waking up the next morning wondering why I was in the guest bedroom downstairs.

So the helmet was with me. Since the ride started out in a slow residential area, I was cool and not wearing it. Until I found myself on a 5-lane highway going 20 miles an hour, I remained cool, then became stupid as I realized how fast I was going and how much faster (and disconcertingly close in spite of a well-marked bike path section) cars were driving by me.

I'm no stranger to crazy bike/auto closeness. My very first bike ride on the road in China resulted in an accident. Not mine, but someone who didn't realize I was a 'laowai' foreigner being careful. Yep. Caused an accident. We'll not go into details now as to how it ended. Not one of my proudest moments. Let's just say I wasn't taken by the police for questioning as I was terrified might happen.

Anyway, I'm now exhausted with a satisfied belly and clean hair!

Riding Part I

I've lived here for too long now to have a good excuse for not having ridden about town yet on the bike. Last year I probably logged 200 miles in the summer riding about the Amish countryside, getting berries, over the hills to grandmother's house. And now it's past the middle of August. Haven't been out on the bike once other than a test ride for possible chain fall-off check.

:)

So this is it. It's a bad post, I know, since not much time has been spent on it, but I'll share with you my favorite pandora radio station, how about that? It's totally free and if you've not been introduced allow me. Type in the name of a couple songs or bands and the station takes off, playing music the system thinks you'll like. You're welcome to skip a number of times, give thumbs up and thumbs down, and the station gets 'smarter' accordingly.

I love it.

You'll hear from me post-endorphinized.

Recovery

Physical recovery is pretty boring work, I think. Sure, there's some exercise you can do, but what I'd like to do is run around town - state - midwest.. Got to put down some more roots though. I know Kalamazoo isn't that difficult. Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself of that.

My work is going well, albeit exhaustingly. Now that I have the internet at home it's going to be easier to go home at closing time but more difficult to let my personal computer continue to be used exclusively for personal and not employment use.

But back to recovery. I went to the doctor on Thursday. He told me that when I find a doctor in my new home it's not likely that there will be much in my chart (which is about 1/2" thick if that) that will be really useful for them. My last visit had been for scabies which had been got in China in 2006. I was so embarrassed at the time. Anyway, pretty much all that bulk was from my medically uneventful and healthy childhood.

I'm glad to have been relatively healthy outside of that little major back surgery thing 13 years ago, but it has made dealing with sickness more difficult - for me, anyway. People who are sick more often have to have learned how to cope better than me! Or they've got to be truly miserable. Since I returned from China in '06 I've experienced facial woes like I'd never had before. It's probably from that fateful day we ate at the fancy vegetarian restaurant where they made fake chicken fingers out of tofu. Just the annoying kind that most teenagers learn to deal with. Never had to wash my face much outside of showering, and I didn't know what I was being blessed with! Now I have to wash with Aquaphor twice a day. And since Africa the allergies seem to have increased too. Hardly ever had hayfever before. Must be getting old quicklier ;-)

One nice thing about this recovery thing has been the 1 month subscription to Netflix. It's been so nice to just lay around watching movies. Scratch that. I've Loved watching the Firefly series for the first time and can't wait to be with friends who love it more than I to watch Serenity.

back again

After 10 years away from the hospital, I decided to make a little visit on a account of a little kidney stone last week.

And still I am recovering! Sheesh. I'm done with this. Hopefully tomorrow will be a first full day of work for the week. Reward? 2 days off. Sigh.

More later.