Category: Personal Reflections and Diary

PARKING MACHINE FIRE?

So, I’m in seattle, going to the courthouse to file a document, and I walk up to pay for the parking, and absently notice that there is smoke billowing out of it, it’s carrying the powerful smell of ozone from what’s obviously an electrical fire. So, of course, I can’t pay for parking. I think about being civically minded but I call the fire department primarily in order to create a record of the problem in case I get a ticket. Over the next five minutes I have to convince two oblivious men not to just stick their credit cards in machine, despite the fact that the display is blank, smoke is coming out of it, and it emits no sign of life. More quickly than I expected, two trucks and a mob of firemen show up, followed by three guys from the parking company. All of whom attend to the meter as if it’s an injured human.

I can’t quite figure out why, but it just seemed very surreal. Something Renee Magritte would paint. I mean, it’s something to do with anthropomorphizing the parking meeter I think. But it was just… well, weird.

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE

I keep looking the mirror with surprise and remembering that line from Henry V where Falstaff says “Do I not dwindle? My skin hangs about me like an old lady’s loose gown.”

My skin isn’t hanging about, but my clothes certainly are. Just went to Nordstrom and got remeasured. I fit perfectly into a 42″ Armani and a 40″ Joseph Abboud — Abboud’s are cut larger. The Armani looks awesome. Perfect shoulders. Not sure I won’t get down to a 40″ which puts me down there with the A-listers. Looking at 16/32 shirts, 40/42 short blazers, and 32-33 waist if I can drop the rest around my middle and back.

For a contrast with the past, I can wear a fleece jacket comfortably under my existing Ralph Lauren 46 short, and the jacket front overlaps by almost eight inches.. I’m pretty sure I’ll get comfortably into cut 42’s, which means I can wear all the trendy stuff rather than wear light wool year around. My 34″ jeans are falling off me and in the 36’s I look like Billy Halleck in Thinner. (Makes my day.)

Got my wonderful italian loafers polished today for 2.50 and they look brand new. It’s awesome to make progress. And it compensates for the medical news today a bit.

TEST RESULTS

Eh. Well. Got the scan. There is a node on my lower right neck deeply recessed that looks like a candidate. I think it’s the only one. They wanted to monitor it last year. But it’s good sized. I can feel it now that I”m aware of it. So, we’ll see what the doctor says tomorrow or monday, but it looks like I”m going in for another round of surgery.

I feel like the terminator. I take a licking but keep on ticking….