Vicki's Finger

 

The Fickle Finger of Fate.  Showing this award from the old Laugh In show makes sense today, as my day ended up being dedicated to how the fickle finger of fate affected Vicki's finger.

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A while back, some idiot driver totaled Vicki's car, and caused one of her fingers to get broken.  One problem - the finger didn't heal properly, and she now has a minor disability: the warped finger that can not bend.  Several months later, virtually nothing could be done to improve function, but something could be done to improve her hand's appearance. Today was the day that her out-patient operation was scheduled to fix the finger as best as could be done.

Even though I was already awake, my alarms got me moving and into the shower before 9 am.  I had just toweled myself off when Vicki called to make sure that I was up and moving.  (I asked her to do this yesterday.)  As a result of this preparation, I picked her up at 10 am, and dropped her off at 10:20.  Now, it was time for breakfast....

My original aim was to get to McD's around 10:30, and order some stuff from the breakfast menu.  However, they had already switched over to their lunch/dinner menu by the time I got there.  Since I wanted something with eggs and sausage, I went to the bagel shop down the road for my late breakfast.  Given what I ate, I think I got lucky - a simple sausage and egg sandwich on a poppy bagel with a large coffee and a 16 oz OJ cost me less than what I'd have spent at McD's and tasted better than McD's offerings.

Next, it was off to Danbury to kill some time.  When I received a text that Vicki would be going into surgery, I figured that it was time to get ready to drive back to Mt. Kisco.  So I got in my car, and was at the out-patient center by 1 pm.  And then I had to wait for almost 2 hours. as it took much longer than anyone expected for Vicki to get out of recovery and get dressed to leave the out-patient center.

Vicki was famished, so the two of us went for lunch. 45 minutes later, we were on the way home for the day....

The Sleep Test Results are in!

 

Today ended up being the last day I was going to present as Marian for a while.  So I made the most of it when Vicki mentioned that she wanted to talk about something serious, but not critical.  Instead of laying around the apartment and doing nothing, I told Vicki that I'd meet her at 5 pm, and we could get a bite to eat.

Although I started getting ready around 3 pm, I was late getting out of the house, and barely made it to Lefteris Gyro on time to meet Vicki.  (The food is healthy, plentiful, and reasonably priced.  What more can you ask of a restaurant.  When I arrived, Vicki was already waiting for me at the table.  I almost didn't recognize Vicki at first, as she had her hair scrunched to the back of her head, exposing the area which alopecia has taken its toll.  (I made sure NOT to say anything about this.)  And then we got into our conversation.

I'm not going to say much about the conversation, save that it was related to health issues.  I mentioned that I got a call from the sleep doctor's office today telling me that I have severe sleep apnea, that I'd be getting a new CPAP machine and put on a regular schedule of new supplies.  YAY!  The only problem is that it will take 2 weeks to get approved by my insurance, and another 2 weeks before it arrives.  AARGH!  The way things are going, it will arrive when I'm away on another trip.

On my way home, I called RQS, and found that she was having trouble with printing a luggage tag for our upcoming cruise.  Since I couldn't solve the problem from a moving car, I suggested that she contact MSC to figure out what was wrong - and she now has a luggage tag for her suitcase.  Next, I stopped at the bank to deposit a check, then onward to home.

Arriving at my house, I met a new resident - a nice woman raising a child on her own.  Although I don't want to get her in trouble, I figured that I should ask our managing agent for information to find out if she's an approved resident.  Then, it was doing the last load of laundry before my trip.  

I can't wait to get on the ship!

 

 

 

PS: I received test results from the lab several weeks after the sleep test.  They confirmed what I already knew - I need my CPAP machine!

An unplanned dinner with RQS and Vicki

 

Food - Our lives revolve around its consumption, simply because we need to eat now and then. Today, I texted Vicki, and the end result was a nice meal for the 3 of us (and ice cream afterwards).

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RQS and I didn't want to deal with the hot weather.  But we had to go out to pick up some items for the bathroom at Walmart.  So I got dressed in the dress I bought at Universal Standard on Thursday and the two of us headed over to Mohegan Lake. where the two of us planned to get a quick snack, then shop before going to meet Vicki at Lefteris Gyro.  

Of course things didn't work out the way we expected.  We were very hungry when we reached Mickey D's, and were surprised to find the place was closed - the place had lost all power, and couldn't serve any customers.  This meant we had to get our snack elsewhere, and that meant driving over to Taco Bell.  Driving there, I realized that we wouldn't be shopping at Walmart, as we wouldn't have enough time to be sure to meet Vicki at 6:00 pm.  Instead, we drove straight to Mt. Kisco, where we spent our time shopping at Target for the things we planned to get elsewhere.  By doing this, we made it to the restaurant at 6:00 pm, and were on time for dinner.

Upon entering the restaurant, I missed Vicki, as she was in a corner on the left and I was focusing on the right.  After that minor snafu, we settled down to enjoy a good dinner. One of the things I noted was that Vicki was dressed much more casually than in the past. Post-exercise wear for some has a look like wearing PJ's.  Yet, she should be proud of all the weight she has lost to be able to look good in this clothing.  As for me, I'll stick with my dresses, as they hide parts of my body that I want to de-emphasize. Although I knew I was going to come home with leftovers, I didn't know how much I'd be bringing home!  Conversation flowed naturally, as Vicki, RQS and I were all relaxed with each of us having something to share and to take home from the conversation.  (This isn't always the case, given the occasional imbalances we have to talk about certain subjects.) 

All too soon, it was time to brave the weather and make it down to Ben & Jerry's for dessert - Ice Cream.  Although there are a few B&J's ice cream shops scattered over the country, this is the only one I know that's close to the New York City area.  Even more surprising, this would be the first time I've stopped here in over 40 years of living here.  So I knew that I was in for a treat.  One glitch - when moving a table out to seat the three of us, my sundae fell on the floor and had to be replaced.

As we left the ice cream shop, the heavens started to open up,  Even though we were avoiding the heat and rain during the day, we were able to make a good day out of something that could have been crappy.  In the end, this was the big advantage of being outside of NYC this weekend.  

 

I could have done much more today than to have dinner with Vicki

 

OK, I was home for most of the day and didn't do much.  Yet, I did start unpacking, I did make appointments to get together with friends, and I did get together with Vicki for dinner.  But, the apartment is still an unmitigated mess, and RQS will be coming up on Thursday.  There are simply not enough hours in the day, nor is there enough energy in me to straighten up my mess.

When RQS comes up here this weekend, one of the things we will be doing is to shop for a new refrigerator for her apartment.  (That reminds me - call up warranty service for my ice box.)  Her landlord is unwilling to replace it.  And being in a rent stabilized apartment, she is loath to trigger any ill feelings between her and the landlord.

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I'm finding that I didn't back up all my Norway photos to Google Photos.  This is a minor thing to take care of, as I have the photos both on my phone and on my PC.  Now, I have to transfer the videos from main storage in the old (broken) phone.  At least, RQS has a "full" set of photos from this trip.

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Around 4:30, I got showered and dressed to go see Vicki for dinner.  Compared to what she was a few years ago, she looks emaciated!  But I'm not going to tell her that, as she's at the right weight for her age.  She notices that I gained a couple of pounds while I was on the cruise.  At least, I knew that in advance.

As you can see, I'm all over the place today.  I'm simply getting back into my normal routine, and I am taking time to get used to a "normal" routine again.

Dinner with Vicki and RQS

 

This is not where we ate the other day.  But I'd have loved to eat here, just for the outdoor ambiance. Vicki, RQS and I agreed to meet at one of our usual go-to places, Lefteris Gyro for a dependable good meal.

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RQS and I had been car shopping all day when a woman who I met in Marian mode called.  I made the mistake of answering the phone in Mario mode, and then RQS came on the line and fouled things up a little.  I'll bet that this spooked the woman who could have become a friend before I had the chance to mention my TG nature.  When I called her back later on, I found that her voice mail response hadn't been updated since 2021.  

Around 7 pm, we met at Lefteris, and  had a good meal.  Vicki may have been a little surprised to see me in Mario mode, but that was because I had been in Mario mode to do car shopping. Our conversation got a little animated (not in a nasty way), as Vicki and I both have strong opinions and needed to express them as part of our conversation.  Of course, this might have disturbed a couple at the table next to us (they were giving Vicki weird looks), but it didn't matter to us.  We ended up being the last people to leave the place, and we left a good tip to make up for taking up a table for over 2 hours.

On the whole, it was a nice way to finish up the day, and I'd like to do this again soon....

I'm going to get really fat if I don't watch out

 

Today, I ended up having two meals out with friends.  How I did that, I don't know.  But I did enjoy both meals along with the company I had.

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If it weren't for the fact that today would be the only time this month that I could see my friend from the census without problems, I would have preferred to stay in and relax for the day.  I hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, and the alarms only got me going around 11:00 am for a 12:30 pm lunch.  This ended up being perfect for me, as I arrived at the Italian joint in town and found my friend just sitting down to wait for me to arrive.

This was a day where I dominated the conversation, describing what happened on my most recent cruise. Hopefully, I did it in a way that kept her interest, as I'm pretty sure that she will never sail with MSC. While Carnival is described as the Walmart of cruise lines, catering to the "value oriented" customer, I described MSC as the bastard offspring between Target and K-Mart. From Target, MSC gets the glitz that attracts people to cruise with them.  And from K-Mart, MSC gets the low quality that causes people to say "Never Again!"  People attracted to MSC do not want the Carnival cruise experience, but want a subset of the experiences one can get on other, higher priced, cruise lines. Eventually, lunch had to end, and I proceeded home.  Originally, I was going to go to Jersey and do some shopping.   But I felt that I should put my leftovers in the refrigerator before going out.  As a result, I never bothered to go out until I met Vicki for dinner at Lefteris Gyro.

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I met Vicki just after she was done with her exercise class, and she was famished.  This time, Vicki would be the one carrying leftovers home.  Vicki listened to me describing the cruise, knowing that neither of us would likely cruise MSC in the future based on my most recent experience.  Yet, I felt this was a shame, as with a little more attention to the quality of the experience and less on nickel-dimeing the cruiser, they'd have product good enough to seriously make a run at grabbing market share from the big-3 American based cruise line corporations (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian).  Vicki told me about her retirement plans (which I won't go into here) and chatted about things going on with her and her husband.  All I will say about that is that he will go more than the extra mile for her.

All too soon, dinner had to end and we had to go our own ways.  Not to worry.  I'll see her again when I have my colonoscopy next week....

 

Synchronization

 

After spending the weekend (mostly) as Mario, I finally got a chance to go out in the world as Marian.  First, RQS and I went for pedicures,.  And later, Vicki and I went out for dinner.  This doesn't sound like much, but....

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RQS has noted that by the end of the weekend, we are totally in sync with each other, and that it is hard to part.  Our arrivals at the other's house begin with a greeting, and then a period of synchronization with each other after being apart for the better part of a week.  By the end of the weekend, it seems like we can almost always have a good read on what the other is thinking and work seamlessly together.  Yet, RQS noted that I was several steps ahead of her yesterday when I shifted our pedicures into today.  Once she realized that I had to be in Mario mode to buy the sofa, all was OK.  But she would have liked a better clarification of what I was doing, to understand the whys and wherefores before things start to happen.  Today, with incomplete information from her, I realized which nail salon she wanted to go to, and made sure we went there before she had to go home.

Later on, I dropped RQS off at the train station and killed some time at BJ's before proceeding to Vicki's house.  I got there a few minutes early and texted Vicki of this, saying not to rush.  But when she got home, she wondered - did she give me the right time?  I told her that I was there early, and texted her to say she didn't need to rush.  And then, we headed off to Lefteris Gyro.

Both of us ordered the Greek Salad with Chicken - and both of us feasted.  Unlike most meals, she finished first.  She was famished!  We chatted about many things.  But when I told her about what is going on with our board and our managing agent, she started saying what to do, instead of listening to find out what was really going on.  Eventually, she caught on, seeing that our slow progress on some projects depended on one person - and understanding why things are the way they are.  (Vicki is one of the people I use for reality checks, and I know she can keep a confidence.) 

Once dinner was over, I drove Vicki home and fell out early.... 

Lunch with a friend from the Census

 

Not getting enough sleep has become a habit with me, and my body keeps waking me up with the sun, only to have me hit the virtual snooze bar to rest another hour or so.  But today was different.  As much as I didn't want to get up today, I ended up doing so as I had a lunch date scheduled with a friend I met while working at the census bureau and I didn't want to disappoint her.

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My friend, CCS, is a member of Mensa, and her world intersected with mine in more than one way. When we met at the Mexican restaurant down the hill, she sent greetings from some I dated a long time ago.  (There wasn't much chemistry between me and the woman I dated.  She lived on Manhattan's West Side and I lived where I live now.  Dating her would be a headache that neither of us needed, as I was starting to come out as trans at the time. I just wonder how my name came up at CCS's out of town conference.) And then, we got down to ordering lunch....

Over lunch, we chatted about many things: my travel plans, her insurance issues, politics, and life in general.  She's the type of friend who accepts me for who and what I am.  And I am grateful to have this friendship.  CCS and Vicki will be the people I'm most likely to call when I finally get around to scheduling another colonoscopy, as these are the two friends who have volunteered to drive me on the day of my procedure.

All too soon, we had to part.  My next stop was to fill my car up at the local gas station.  I was glad that I was wearing a short, comfortable dress, as the weather was hot.  Given how hot it was today, I made the decision to be in Marian more tomorrow when I pick RQS up at the station.

Dinners with Vicki & TCL

Last night, Vicki and I went to a dinner at a restaurant holding a HVRW (Hudson Valley Restaurant Week) promotion. As usual, when I see Vicki, I presented as female. It was nice to be able to go out to a nice place and be treated as a lady.  

But I digress....

Every year, Vicki and I try to go out to at least one restaurant participating in the HVRW promotion.  This year, most of our favorite places which participated in the past were not on the HVRW list.  So we decided to and try out a new place, Lenny's in Larchmont, NY.  

Lenny's is housed in an old building on the Post Road, and it is not easy to find the entrance to its parking lot in the dark. There was a car in front of me that couldn't find the parking lot, and blocked me while waiting to turn off the Post Road.  Once on the side street, I went around the block with an idea towards entering the parking lot in the one area where I could expect a driveway cut - right next to the tent that covered the bulk of their parking area.  (There was parking at the bank across the street, but we didn't know it at the time.)  It was nice to know that we entered the restaurant while the other car was trying to park.

Once in the restaurant, we proceeded to look at the menu.  There wasn't that much that was interesting on the Prix-fixe menu, but we found two dishes we liked.  However, not much other than our appetizer jumped out and said "come here again". (3 Oysters and 3 clams on the half shell served over ice - Yum!) Vicki said that there was something missing from her fish dish, and I was only satisfied by my chicken dish.  Please note that both of our taste buds may have been off, as Vicki had just gotten over a cold, and I had other issues that could have affected my taste buds.  So I won't knock this place for how their dishes tasted until I have given the place a second chance.

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Tonight, I went to see TCL.  It's been months since we've gotten together, and we wanted to go back to one of our old standby places.  So, after taking care of some things around the house, it was off to New Jersey in Mario mode.

I was a little concerned about a noise my car made when driving from Walmart's parking lot.  After a few miles, I realized that I had the transmission in D3 mode - and corrected it right away.  But this spooked me enough to avoid taking the Bear Mountain Bridge and cross the river in Tarrytown.  This added extra time to my trip, but I was able to make it to TCL's on time for dinner.

Luckily, Justin's (in Hawthorne, NJ) had an early bird Prix-fixe special, and we both had a good meal.  I had a veal dish, while TCL had chicken. Both of us were satisfied, and I felt as if tonight's meal was better than the meal I had the night before.  Unfortunately, the wine affected me a little, so I had to wait a while (enjoying a cup of coffee) for my body to catch up in processing what I fed it.  By the time we made it back to TCL's place, I was OK and ready for my drive home.

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While with TCL, Vicki called me.  Her hubby was unexpectedly going to be away on the day of her colonoscopy, and she wanted to take me up on my offer of being a chauffeur.  Of course, I said "Sure!" as I knew she'd do the same for me if I asked.  Shortly afterwards, my brother called and asked about my schedule - he wanted to schedule a visit to the lawyer to discuss issues we have regarding the house we own together.  So that'll be another day booked in my calendar.  I think TCL may start to understand why I try to book things way in advance - life has a habit of filling one's calendar while one wants to make other plans.

Missing a play

 

Casual readers of this blog know that I love to attend theater performances, especially when in Marian Mode.  Last night, I was scheduled to see a performance of an Off-Broadway play and missed it due to subway maintenance.

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A while back, Vicki said that she was going to get her hair colored and trimmed.  Since she was going to be out of the house, I suggested we get together for lunch - which we did.  The one thing she wasn't expecting in her conscious mind was to see me in Mario mode.  But then, she wasn't connecting the dots between us getting together and RQS and I getting together.  However, she realized which mode I was traveling in today, and we had lunch a few minutes later than planned.

After lunch, I drove to RQS's place, where I had to hunt about 15-20 minutes to find a parking spot near her house.  We killed a little time before leaving the house.  However, we made one mistake - we ate dinner in Queens instead of Manhattan.   Had we done this, we'd have made the theater on time because we could have taken alternate routes into the city.  But I digress.  Once we finished dinner, we dropped off her leftovers at her apartment, and then headed to the subway.  Sadly, the train we needed wasn't running, and it didn't make sense for use to hoof it into Manhattan to do anything else.

When I left RQS's place, I made a quick run to Wegmans to pick up some lunches for the rest of the week, and then home to relax....

A short post for the day....

 

Al Franken.  Here's a person who's grown on me over the years.  His early comedy was a mixed bag to me, but as he became more serious, I grew to respect the man.

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I've always wanted to see Franken run for President, after his service in the Senate.  He's the type of person who could have taken Trump down in a 2016 debate and still looked "presidential" while doing so. But then, a comedian has to have developed perfect timing to do this, and it is a skill that would be perfect in today's political environment.  When the political system has become a bad joke, why not have a serious comedian run a country?  (Heck, if Ukraine has done this, why not here?  At least, we don't have to worry about Mexico grabbing Texas back, or Canada grabbing Alaska.)

While shopping for tickets to see Postmodern Jukebox, I saw that Franken was on a nearby stage.  So, I decided to buy myself a ticket.  Unfortunately, my friend Vicki couldn't go with me.  But I was lucky.  Someone from my Yonkers game night group wanted to go.  It looks like we'll have a nice dinner nearby, then go to the theater to see the show.

Be it funny or serious, I expect this to be a very enjoyable evening....