Monday Rambles

I'll warn you in advance, this is one of the rambliest rambles I've put down in digital ink in ages.  Get ready for a wild ride!

Another chemo week is down the pike and I'm slowly crawling out of the pit.  I've figured out that part of the problem during chemo weeks is the extra pills I have to take to accommodate my shots and stuff.  The Benadryl beforehand makes me so sleepy I can't stand it, so I end up going home after my shots and going to bed.  By the time I wake up, the chills from the shot are setting in, so I have to take more pills.  I think all the extra meds contribute to my nausea problems.  I know I start feeling better by Sunday, when all of the extra stuff has filtered out of my system.  Then I can start dealing with the bricks.

One more to go!  One more to go!  I'm filled with an equal measure of anticipation and dread.  Sometimes, just thinking about going back to the cancer center makes me reflexively retch.

My grandfather passed away Saturday morning.  They said he had a really rough couple of days and then passed on.  I'm really glad that we went to see him week before last.  He was alert and talkative then, and that's a good final memory to have.  He was 94, and kind of just gave out.  The last few years were pretty rough on him.  Besides his own declining health, one of my uncles passed away in 2009 and then Mom died in 2010.  I cannot imagine being in your 90's and yet having to bury your kids.  No one expects that.

His funeral will be Tuesday, which is going to make for an odd sort of week.  The Fourth was already throwing an extra day off in there, and I'm still trying to recover from missing a day of work last week due to chemo.  It's going to be a short week, but one with lots of commotion, apparently.

For some reason, my sales decided to pick up over the last week and a half.  That was a bright spot during the week of chemo blight.  All of a sudden, I started selling large items again and making my sales targets.  I finally made rent, and now I'll be getting a (very small) check.  But it will be a check.  Now I've got to get busy and replenish my stash of larger items.  About half my floor stock of small furniture is gone.  Luckily, I kind of made up for that with some weekend shopping.

I did get out to one church sale over the weekend.  We actually went to two, but the second one wasn't happening until Sunday. What kind of church does that?  I mean, besides the Adventists?  We did end up going back on Sunday, but it was a bust.  We found enough stuff at another Sunday stop to more than make up for that minor irritant.  More details on that tomorrow.

Speaking of church stuff, week before last when I was working my booth, there was a woman there seated on the floor in front of my religious wall.  She was going through all the pamphlets and booklets very carefully, like she was looking for certain particulars.  At one point, she asked me where I found all the older Catholic resources.  I kind of gave my usual hem and haw answer (junkers don't reveal their sources easily), so she asked if I was Catholic.  My answer to that is always "I'm not, but my father was."  She asked if I was raised Catholic.  I told her that I was raised Southern Baptist.  (The "Southern" part is very important--even all these years later.)  I didn't mention my conscious lack of a religious affiliation these days.  That seems a bit too personal for a casual conversation with a stranger.

Anyway, in the middle of all this, she says"  Well, you know those guys in Rome right now aren't the Catholic Church.  It's been nothing but anti-popes since 1958."  OMG!  I have a real-life sedevacantist on my hands!  I knew that Louisville had an SSPX chapel, because I had been to an awesome yard sale there one time, but I had no idea that there was anyone in town who was so anti-Vatican II that they went to the extreme positions.  Wow!  Now I realize why she was looking through everything so carefully.  She was checking for publication dates and imprimaturs!

She told me that she appreciated the stuff I had for sale and that it was a great resource for her and others, then left.  Wow!  I'm supplying goods for extreme traditionalist Catholics!  Who knew?  For the record, I find church politics almost as fascinating as church articles.

Day by Days:  It was another solid week, for the most part, but not a spectacular one.  The show was more about laying groundwork for some of the bigger action to come, as Sami prepares for trial and EJ moves ahead with his plot to take down Stefano.  I'm beginning to wonder if Kate wasn't the one who swiped the razor from Rafe's room, to bog down Sami's defense.  Judi Evans was excellent this week as Adrienne tried to keep her fears in check and keep from alienating her family.  Sonny and Will and the baby are so cute together.  Nice little moments with Nick/Will, Gabi/Nick, Kate/Sami (loved how Sami's hand kept hovering over Kate's shoulder, inches away from giving a little comfort, yet totally unable to reach out to her worst enemy), EJ/Chad and Adrienne/Jennifer.  JJ continues to annoy me.  The Cameron/Abby/Chad triangle looks to be boring as grass growing.  Who is the rooting couple supposed to be?  Durned if I know.  And, we got a Lucas scene!  Not enough of those these days.

Kim Thompson died recently.  I was going to mention here it last week, but I forgot.  He was co-publisher of Fantagraphics, which was one of my favorite comic book companies.  Towards the end of my comic book days, most of what I was reading were Fanta titles.  He was responsible for, among other things, bringing the works of Lewis Trondheim and Swedish artist Jason into print in English.  He brought wonderful things to an impoverished American comics market, and had a tremendous impact on my own reading habits.  He will be missed.

Finally a political note.  (Those of you who don't really want to read this sort of thing can skip the next two paragraphs.  I probably should have said that about my Days paragraph too.)

Like a lot of folks, I am celebrating the Supreme Court decision last week in the DOMA/Prop 8 cases.  At the same time, I am only cautiously optimistic about the eventual results of the decision.  For one thing, Keith and I still cannot get married under the laws of this state.  The decision changed nothing about that.  We cannot go to a state where same-sex marriage is legal, get married, and have that marriage recognized here.  That part of DOMA was not in the challenge.  My parents were married sixteen yers before they split.  Keith and I have been together 23.  My mother was able to get an increase in her Social Security when my dad died, and they weren't even married then!  Me?  It's not totally clear yet.  That's what I get out of the decision.  Not entirely clear yet.

I'm not downing the decision.  It was the right one.  It was a strong challenge to an unjust law.  All I'm saying is that looking at the aftermath and the meaning has to be done with a careful eye.  To go further, there is no federal law protecting LGBT folks from discrimination in housing or employment.  Unless someone lives in one of the cities or states that offers such protection, then they can be fired or evicted simply for being gay.  It's 2013, and this is still reality.  It's unconscionable.  We won a big deal last week.  There's no doubt about that.  We also still have a long ways to go.

From chemo to yard sales to soaps to Catholics to comics!  From the personal to the political!  I've hit the rambling gamut today, haven't I?  How about that?  About the only thing that didn't make it in was an Emmylou Harris mention.  And now you have that.

Despite everything that's gone on this year, I have managed to stay on track with my posting goals.  We are halfway through the year, and I am just a little over halfway to my posting goal of 200 posts for 2013.  Blogging has helped me cope with the stress of chemo, and I appreciate your reading along with me.  This week is already plotted out and pre-published, so keep checking in.