health preoccupations

the main preoccupations of our friends these days appear to be:

• cancer 
• lower urinary tract issues
• cataracts, and
• cracked teeth

3 varietals

friends that grow old with you are like wine, i think. some really good ones deepen and widen with maturity and you take them out to savor a sip or three every year or so. 

i have lunch with Su who is like an excellent shiraz. bold and strong and rich and generous. we share imperfections and failures and fears and stories of hope and grace together.

i have lunch with Te who is a chardonnay. light and gentle and fruity and delicate. i see my younger idealism in her clear eyes and daring dreams.

today i have tea with Sh who is a pinot noir. complex and unique and hardworking and lovely. how serendipitous, i think, the friendship that has grown out of our long ago encounters and endured expatriation repatriation and the years in between!

how fortunate i am to have a well curated cellar.

greying

the supermarket cashier asks if i am a senior citizen.

i am torn between greed for a 3% discount and vanity. 

vanity wins. i am a few months short, i mumble.

one wretched hour

i wait well, i think. give me a good book and a shady spot with a nice cuppa and i'm set till you are done. except when my wait for a cellphone battery transplant means an agonizing hour of purgatory.

because the book is in the 'phone. and the money is in the 'phone. as is the map of this strange neighborhood. even the time is by the 'phone. 

i feel lost and wish to throw a tantrum. how unfair it is, i think to myself. to come to the end of a long day to be so hungry and so far from the day's rest. all because my 'phone is giving up its lithium ghost.

i surreptitiously glance at strangers' wrists to figure up when my hour is up. and what do you know? lots of folks have stopped wearing wristwatches! and of those who do, most are wearing smartwatches with anonymous faces. wear analog, people! perform a public service!

in any case my cellphone is rejuvenated with new energy and i am back to my streamlined efficiency.

my little saddle bag

meet carmen, my new wee sacoche! home to the phone the headphones the spare battery and key to a new independence (one hopes).

she's quirky she's handy she's lived in and just (according to HOM) a tad rustic. 

you can have your politically correct PU version and vegan stuff but gimme unapologetic leather and japanese craftsmanship. 

mature student

today's news has a congratulatory account of a 70-year-old man who goes to medical school at 65 after he retires from his sales job and is graduating tomorrow. 

so. lifelong learning. grit. inspiring. commendableness par excellence. 

but. also ghastly and borderline horrifying. one sincerely hopes people do not start to think that five years of school makes a physician.

the real doctor will see you shortly - matt mccarthy (2015)

unexpectedly thoughtful. i expect a gregarious comedic romp and instead leave with a rather touching coming-of-age account that is fairly realistic as well.

his description of outpatient sam with his fifteen-item diagnosis list hits the (tender) spot exactly. as does his description of self-preserving depersonalization.