What I Learned This Week: #200

Monday, June 16 – Sunday, June 20, 2021

The Week in Milestones: What I Learned this Week is 200 posts old. I started blogging in 2017 to practice writing. At first, I wrote on random topics on random days, but soon settled into once a week “reporting.” For 64 days during the early lock down phase of the pandemic, I wrote daily as one of my coping strategies. But the bread and butter of this blog is weekly 500-1000 words recaps of my week and my very routine activities.

The blog is based on my physical journal, a book where every day I write three things that made me happy. Focusing on the positive minutiae of the day, is what the journal and this blog is about and I believe happy thoughts make me a happy person.

I’ve though about walking away from the blog at 200. I’ll see what I think about that next Sunday. I still like this brain exercise. And looking at the thrilling topics below, wooooooooweeeeeee, life is just fine!

The Week in Tartar: Dental Hygienists seem to love the thrill of scraping tartar off teeth, and I do my best to grow as much as possible between visits. I am growing tartar right now, in fact. Anyway, my dental office is currently missing a hygienist which makes me sad because the one that was there for my last visit had the best touch of any hygienist in my oral history. This tech, who came to them through a temp agency, not only loved scraping the tartar, but she appeared to like the sight of blood more than any hygienist I’ve encountered. Brutal. But, she was amusing to talk to, so it wasn’t a total loss.

The Week in Colonoscopy Delay: I have been taking steps to schedule my routine colonoscopy, one of the great and efficient medical procedures that modern medicine has given us. This week I called the office where I need to go a couple of times. The wait times are ridiculous and I had to hang up and try again. Finally, I got through. The woman said the office was in total turmoil and a large group of doctors was about to leave the practice. She told me to call back in July. I didn’t realize the scheduling part of the colonoscopy was going to resemble scheduling my car for body work.

The Week in Sweet and Savory: At Maize this week I sat at the bar for dinner and the staff kept delivering food to the empty seat 2 stools away from me. First an appetizer appeared, and a little bit later, the main course. And the food sat. Without warning a dude came running in from outside, sat down and started to dig in. Turned out he worked there but he also eats there a lot because the food reminds him of what his Puerto Rican Mom cooks.

He wanted to share the food with the bartender in training, but when she said she was vegan he shifted to lovingly explaining the balance between sweet and savory flavors that Latino food is known for. He was so enthusiastic, I couldn’t help but listen, and in a few minutes his disappeared again, this time reappearing with a small plate so he could cut off a piece of his fish and share it with me. Delightful! Both him and the fist dish he shared!

The Week in Surprises: Friday was full of surprises. My Mom’s eye morning eye appointment got canceled while I was on my way to pick her up. No appointment, but a surprise breakfast with Mom. Then, President Biden’s signature on Thursday to make Juneteenth a National holiday, gave me a surprise 1/2 day off. But the best surprise was at the meat market where a familiar looking man said he knew me. It took me a second because his hair was white, not the brownish red he’d been dying it for years. And it took me a second, because I’d heard he was real sick, and I honestly thought he’d died…period, not just his hair. Welp Bob was alive and well as charming as ever. A truly great surprise.