recently-encountered oddities

1. Flew with a guy who was a Showcase Showdown winner on the Price is Right. Each of his prizes were silver (a truck, a gown, and a tea set). He recounted the story with the clarity typically reserved for one of my elephant stories.

2. Met someone who is fifteenth out of eighteen children. His mother had her first child at sixteen and now at fifty-six has a two-month old. This family also includes three sets of twins.

Puerto Rico

I had the nicest day at the beach in Aguadilla yesterday. The water was clear and blue (where you could see your toes) and the perfect temperature. I tried not to get too much sun, really. I rented an umbrella and put on sunblock, everywhere except my armpits, which are now a curious shade of pink in direct contrast to the rest of my body. Attractive? I think so.

My favorite e-mail in my whole inbox.

Just a note to tell you that I had my first exam and blood work for my PSA reading on Monday since my cancer treatments ended in mid March. The doctor called me yesterday and said it appears that my cancers are gone from my body! God is so good and I thank you for your prayers and good thoughts during these very stressful times for me and Ma-ma. I love you and can hardly wait to see you again.

Da-da

Even better, I picked up a working trip that had a layover the very next day in San Antonio. Ma-ma, Da-da and I lunched at Silo, a cool restaurant with delicious food and then at dinner they set me up with my Mexican food fix. It was a really wonderful visit and I am so thankful that I was able to go celebrate his recovery with them.

A and B the C of D

Noor Zwayne, M.D. did her best to ruin my brother-in-law Josh's Father's Day by being accepted into medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch (I am assuming that is what UTMB represents) in the fall. She is on her way to becoming a REAL doctor, not some pimple-popper MD. Yay!

Shannon- I almost forgot.

This is me, exhibiting joyous surprise.

Acting class.

You don't know what you're doing.

You're bored out of your mind.

You need adult supervision.

These facial exercises serve to demonstrate why it might not be so terrible if the camera inside my computer were to break. Clockwise from top left: Worried, Confused, Happy, and Bored.

I love you.

My previously empty three-bedroom apartment now has no vacancy. One of my new roommates, Olamide, works as a financial analyst for Ralph Lauren. The other, Linda, is a new flight attendant.

Two days after moving into her new place, Linda was leaving on a trip. She said, "See you later." I was almost completely unconscious at this point and Linda's voice sounded like Laura, my dear cousin. So naturally, my response to this casual acquaintance is, "I love you."
Her response, naturally, was dead silence. She weakly said, "Bye." and left. I am sure, sufficiently creeped out.

I am not typically so casual with the L word (no, not that L word), but I felt that a retraction would be more awkward than the initial event. So instead, I wrote Laura a note at the YMCA of the Rockies, where she is working as a camp counselor. I am also using my blog as the platform by which I set the record straight.

Harold

I am looking forward to a summer in New York. T. Sean will be here, preparing for and shooting his new movie, Harold. Google it and be impressed by my connections- he is all over the place. The most difficult part of my new job was moving away from my loved ones; family nearby will be wonderful.

Today is the first day that I am back in my apartment in at least ten days. I have been all over the place (most recently London, Belfast, Dominican Republic, Seattle, and Orange County). What this means is that I have had a tougher time than usual keeping in touch with everyone, but I am working on that.