Portland Redux

Well, it's already been more than a week since I got back from my eagerly anticipated trip to Portland. Forgive me, readers, for I will not give the trip anywhere near the proper write-up it deserves, due to the fact that a) I am a terrible blogger, and b) um, well, a) pretty much said it all really.

I will just quickly sum up the highlights of the weekend:

1) Powell's. Yes, it was as awesome as I hoped. It was also far more overwhelming than I expected. I am not kidding when I say that I got lost in there a few times. It's sort of a maze. A three-story, 1-city-block-long maze filled top to bottom with books. Oh, and somewhere in there is a coffee shop. A coffee shop that I seemed to have a lot of trouble finding when I actually wanted to. (Kind of like Narnia. You don't find it, it finds you.)

2) Multnomah Falls. The beauty of nature at the falls is somewhat marred by the many tourists and tourist-related buildings that have been built up to accommodate the tourists, but the waterfall is still quite impressive. Also impressive were the two women I saw as I was on my way down the paved trail from hiking to the top of the falls; women walking up the trail in — again I am not kidding — high heels. Because nothing says, "I love being out in nature!" like a pair of 3" wedges.

3) Seaside. The city of Seaside is, as you would probably guess, right by the coast. It is quite cute and charming, and is, as far as I could tell, completely made up of candy shops. One of those shops, called the Buzz on Broadway, could give you a sugar rush just from walking in the door and breathing. It was the Powell's of candy shops, except it was the size of a normal shop. So, actually, not very much like Powell's. But the POINT is, they had pretty much any sort of candy you could want. They also sold fudge. Oh, and my favorite: chocolate-covered bacon (still not kidding, except for the part about it being my favorite).

Speaking of bacon, that brings me to

4) Voodoo Doughnuts. You can get bacon on a doughnut at this place. You can also, if you're me, get hit on rather aggressively by a woman who is either not aware or doesn't care that you're not gay, probably due to the mind-altering substance that is clearly influencing her. At one point, she actually told me she worshiped me and that was a little awkward, seeing as how we'd only just met. So I said, "I worship Jesus," which ideally should have either a) upped the awkwardness ante enough to ensure that I would be left alone, or b) turned the conversation in a far more profitable direction. Alas, it did neither. My friend and I finally had to leave the store without buying anything, but that was OK. The clerk gave every appearance of not caring, and neither of us wanted a doughnut all that much anyway. (Especially not doughnuts with bacon on them. Gross.)

5) Eating food from a street-cart vendor. I had read an article before going to Portland about the street carts that sold all kinds of different foods, from Thai to Mexican to Bosnian to Czech to Greek and much more. Of course I had to make sure I partook of this unique experience. An experience that included a half-hour wait time for my shrimp burrito. Bliss!

6) The International Rose Test Garden. We went here on our last day in the city, and it was quite a nice ending to the weekend. Lots of roses, most of them unfortunately in varying states of decay, but you couldn't tell unless you were up close. Also, the little gift shop had free samples of rose tea, which was light and refreshing and did indeed taste like roses. Or at least a hint of roses.

All in all, I liked Portland very much. It's a pretty cool city, and we were able to walk nearly everywhere we wanted to go (except the Rose Garden and Multnomah Falls and Seaside). I also loved the forests that surround the city (so green!), the bridges over the Columbia River, and the view of the Columbia River Gorge from Crown Point. And I thought it was neat that, though we were staying in a downtown hotel right smack in the middle of everything, not once in the entire trip did we hear a siren.

But still, it's good to be back in Cali. There's no place like home...

Epiphany!

Oh my gosh, I just realized something awesome.

I had decided that I didn't want to check any bags on my flight to Portland, so I've been trying to pack as light as possible. But then I thought, "Dang it, how am I going to pack my shampoo and conditioner? I don't have any of those little 3oz bottles and I can't take the big bottles in my carry-on!" And that's when I remembered.*

I don't need to take shampoo and conditioner. I'm BALD. Tra la la la la la!


*I know it probably seems odd that I forgot I had no hair, considering how long I haven't had it. But every now and then, for no more than a split second, I really do. Strange, but true. And usually, when I remember that I'm bald, I'm bummed. But for once, I'm kind of stoked because honestly, I just hate packing shampoo and conditioner.

Off to Portland Tomorrow!

I should be packing right now. But of course I'm procrastinating. I wouldn't be me if I didn't wait til the very last minute, after all. Cancer may have affected my outlook about various aspects of life, but sadly it did not transform me into a paragon of organization and efficiency.

I really, really hope it doesn't rain all weekend. In addition to seeing Powell's and various other points of interest in the city, my friend and I may make it out to the coast and possibly Columbia Gorge.

I'll try to take some pics, too. Hopefully they're better than the ones I took in Thailand.

Don't Tread On Me

Stumbled across the following fascinating observation in a user comment at the end of this article about Facebook friendship:

Online friends are one demential and have to be treaded as such.

Thought-provoking, isn't it? Unlike the article, in fact, which was a rather shallow explication of social networking on Facebook. I've definitely read better critiques elsewhere. But at any rate, it didn't persuade me to sign up for a Facebook account. I remain Facebookless to this day, in spite of my real-life friends' repeated invites and perplexed queries as to why on earth I wouldn't join. The reasons are far too complicated to go into here (read: I can't be bothered right now), but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't a subject of a future post.

In the meantime, why not ponder what treading one demential friends might look like. Hey, it can't be any less entertaining than taking a quiz to figure out what Disney character you most resemble. (Yeah, sure you haven't done that.)

Where Does The Time Go?

I can't believe it's the middle of June already. It doesn't feel like summer at all here in the Golden State. I've been wearing sweatshirts almost every day since the beginning of the month. On Sunday, we had our first glimpse of sunshine in literally weeks.

And now I'm getting ready to head up to Portland, OR, where apparently the weather forecast calls for clouds and rain this weekend. Yay.

Oh well, I'm still looking forward to the trip. For one thing, I need a vacation. Badly. For another, I'm finally going to see Powell's! And for yet another, I'm all done with chemo!!

Wait, that doesn't have anything to do with Portland. Oh well, who cares! I'M DONE WITH CHEMO!! Tra la la la la la LAAAAAA!

Yeah, I'm still pretty happy about that, in case you couldn't tell.

By the way, many thanks to those of you who commented with birthday wishes on my last post. I had an awesome birthday, truly one of the best ever—not least because I was alive to celebrate it! Thank God. Man, what a crazy year...

Happy BIrthday To Me!

Boy, did I ever earn this one.

What Part of "I'm Done With Chemo" Does My Body Not Understand?

The part that is still full of chemo drugs, I guess. Boo!

The weekend was pretty tough. I felt exhausted to the extreme physically, and depressed emotionally, so that on Saturday I could barely get out of bed all day. And though I ate, I found myself grossed out by food at the same time. Once again, nothing tasted right.

Sunday was better, and today was better still. At least my taste buds are almost back.

So people have asked me what's next, now that I'm finished with chemo and am in remission. Well, I'm not technically cancer-free until I get through the followup period, which will be about 2-3 years. I will probably have a CAT scan after six months. Then another PET scan six months after that. And so the cycle will go, I guess, until the followup period is finished. I'll know a bit more about the process after I've seen my doctor again, which will be in about five weeks.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting my hair back. The doctor said it would take about 6-8 weeks after my last treatment for it to start growing again. I can't wait!

I'm also looking forward to being able to run again. After my third treatment, I pretty much had to give it up, though on days when I felt good, I would try a jog around the Rose Bowl or wherever. Of course, it always turned into mostly a walk. Fatigue definitely increased with each treatment, and I've barely done any exercise at all over the past month. I miss it.

I still have moments — quite often, actually — of disbelief when I think about the past five months. When I say to myself the words, "I had cancer." It's so hard to get my head around it. I wonder if I ever will.