what's up?

lost my nerve

here’s another shot of el abuelo’s plymouth from a couple of summers ago. i just liked the picture and the location.

hotter than hell, and on my way to a heat stroke about this time.

i rather prefer his pontiac, but it wasn’t at vail hq that day. maybe he’ll bring it to chicano park day this year. really hoping to go, but i don’t know. not as healthy or up to going out anymore. better half is suggesting that we try another show before then; in between rainstorms on weekends…we’ll see.

been busy. lots going on.

better half has been talking about retiring for a few months.

made a decision a couple of thursdays ago, and told the bosses the next day he was done, and that was it. something about he couldn’t sell his company stock if he was employed, so he took care of that part of the equation.

he still gets up way too early, then spends each morning before the sun comes up, sitting in the jacuzzi, watching the stars, surprisingly not missing the job at all. lol.

now the pressure for me to retire, but i hadn’t thought about it, and i’m not old enough or ready, i guess.

he’s been keeping himself busy with a long list of things he hasn’t been able to do because work always took up so much of his time.

i think the same day he was busy deciding to retire, i went to the dentist. i mentioned a tooth that was bothering me, and the next monday, i was getting a root canal.

never had one before, and had always heard horror stories. for me, it seemed like a more intense cavity filling. took about an hour, a lot of steps, too many shots in the cheek nerves and gums, but otherwise was pretty easy. i guess i complained early enough, it wasn’t infected or whatever makes it worse.

they had a neat little machine that featured an attachment that fit over the drilled out top of the tooth and basically did a little pressure car wash in the empty root space. cleaning and disinfectant.

so i lost my nerve, and i’m ok with it.

now if i can just convince myself to go to a car show and remember how to take a decent picture.

domino

here’s an old one from the vaults. back in 2017 at the bob’s big boy on firestone in downey. a fundraiser for oscar.

people blurred through my exposures, back when i’d find a car show or two every single day. really put that camera and tripod through a workout.

shiny forty-eight buick supra. i wonder if it’s still around.

————————

raining today. pomona swap meet is tomorrow. probably won’t go, though the overcast would be a perfect lightbox.

been busy at work. working a lot from my mom’s house.

(tl;dr - mom fell on her ass, and got a ride to the hospital)

my daughter was in town last month, with her dogs. she had gone off to visit a friend before a lunch date with her dad. i was out to lunch myself, about twenty minutes left, when i get a panicked call from my mom saying the big doberman had managed to escape from the backyard, via a side door.

she had been expecting my younger brother to be dropped off for a visit from san diego—he can’t drive anymore—long story for another day. she was in the garage with the door open, hanging out by her car. the side door hadn’t been pushed completely shut, and out the dog went, down the street.

dog doesn’t listen, and she’s almost ninety, so no way is going to catch it.

fortunately, i wasn’t far away, and vaguely knew where that doggo was most likely to go, to the nearby park. still, i drove along another street, that i used to walk him on before going there.

i found him harassing a man and two little yappy dogs, out for a walk, near the street. i pulled up alongside, and called him (the dog, not the man) an asshole, get in the car. he wasn’t doing anything more than sniffing the ankle biters, but i’m sure the guy was afraid for his dogs.

lucky for me, dog ran around my car, and back around to the driver’s side and hopped in. unlucky for me, i didn’t have any covers on my seats, so now i have some random scratches in the finish.

he didn’t have any collar on, and i really expected to have to chase him around the park, so i was very happy he got right in. adrenaline was really going, and now was in my veins, making me shaky.

got him home, my mom, brother, and his caretaker in the driveway, having just got there. asked mom to bring me a leash, and managed to get him back in the backyard with the other beast. was only a little bit late getting back to work, and only spouted off a few expletives as i passed by the other two.

out the front window, i saw the caretaker leave. then i saw a gray truck pull up to the curb and park. didn’t think anything of it. logged into my work computer.

a minute later i hear my ex husband’s voice down the hall, calling from the laundry room door to the garage. it sounded squeaky. just called my name. weird. then again, adding, “your mom fell down!”

ran out there. brother trying to stand up, mom is on the driveway, flat on her back. told my ex, who had come to pick up our daughter, who isn’t back yet, to hold my mom’s head, don’t let her move her neck or try to get up. my brother is getting upset.

fuck, left my phone in the house.

she has one of those systems for if she falls and no one is around, so went inside and slapped the big red button on the main box. they took a minute to finally get on the intercom. explained the situation, and please send an ambulance. they still took another few minutes and called me back on my cell phone to let me know help was coming. i guess they also sent out calls to my sister and other brother.

i think it would have been faster to just call 9-1-1. but it worked.

back out on the driveway, mom is crying and understandably scared, but also more worried that the neighbors were going to see her in such a state. strangely, no one on the street seems to be home, not that it mattered. she didn’t want the attention, didn’t want all the fuss. she seemed to be ok, but at her age, falling on cement, we’re getting her checked over.

ambulance and big fire trucks arrive and fill the street in front of the house.

i guess the story was that my brother had gone to the refrigerator for a bottle of snapple or can of coke, and had tripped over a bag of dog food that i’d placed at the front of the garage, to go back home with my daughter and her beasts.

as my brother tripped, and realized he was falling toward the car, and my mom, he screamed, as he knocked my mom down, like a domino. he landed on top of her, and she on her back, feet in the garage, head down the incline of the driveway.

he’s upset, thinking he’s killed her. she somehow, has only whacked her head, and is only bleeding from a cut on the back. she’s crying and upset.

daughter shows up, with a wtf happened on her face.

mom got a ride to the hospital, with all the hot emergency guys. (i got a pain in my chesh too…) we all got left behind to organize next steps. i am to gather her info, and it was going to take half an hour before i needed to be there.

i call my sister, who is a quarter of the way down ortega highway toward elsinore, she’s turning around. called my better half, then the caretaker, and texted my sister-in-law to quickly tell them what happened. better half was going to head to the hospital, but i told him they wouldn’t let him in, so maybe pick up some food for my brother and daughter.

caretaker hadn’t gotten very far away and came back quickly, in case my brother needed to go back home.

daughter didn’t get her lunch date. her dad left, after being the hero. couldn’t deal with what happened. i guess he’d dealt with similar issues with his parents, and it was too much. doesn’t like the sight of blood.

i sent the caretaker off to her weekend. put daughter in charge of my brother, to distract him with tv shows.

i tried calling one coworker, then another, to tell them i had to go to the hospital, etc.

i gathered mom’s purse and other info doctors would need, and drove over to the hospital.

after all that hullaballoo on the driveway, turns out she had one of the emergency buttons in her pocket the whole time. i guess not the type that feels a fall and sends help, but one you would have to push. would have saved a minute of me running back in the house, but oh well.

fortunately, my sister arrived about half an hour later, since she deals with more of the medical appointments, and could better answer questions regarding meds.

overall, she got x-rays and a ct scan. she was super lucky, as she had no broken bones, maybe a slight concussion, and a cut on the back of her head. they used her hair and glue to close it. i mean, they braided hair from either side of the cut to hold it closed, and put glue over the cut and the hair, which should dissolve in a couple of weeks. her neck is sore, and has other random aches, but that’s to be expected.

i got a text from my better half that he’d rang the bell at the house and knocked, and no answer, so had left the food on the porch and gone back home. called my daughter to let her know…the tv was set to my mom’s preferred level of volume—100%, and they hadn’t heard the door. the dogs were still outside, barking crazily, but she thought nothing of it.

about five hours later, i had to go back to get my mom’s car, which would be easier for her to get in. thanked my kid for watching my brother. they’d been watching some reptile documentaries or something. she packed up her stuff and dogs and left, while i took my brother back to the hospital to pick up mom.

sister got back in her car, and headed back to ortega highway and her weekend.

my brother has only complained about his knees and back, but otherwise seems to gotten back to normal. he had an interesting first night, walking in his sleep, but with his eyes open. mom found him getting dressed about midnight, and was afraid he would walk out the door to who knows where and get lost.

her voice woke me up, and finding the situation, i told him to go back to sleep, and he actually did.

i ended up being at mom’s all weekend, and have been over there more frequently since. she’s going to be all right, will be happier when the glue falls out and she can do her hair again.

my brother notes that we have each fallen this past year, and now we are the three wobbly musketeers. how did we get so old, so fast?

so tempted to ask the neighbor across the street if his security cameras picked up everything, just to see what happened, and how they fell, what hit first, etc., but too shy to actually knock on the door. have yet to catch them outside to ask.

i think that’s enough story time for tonight.

too soon

still haven’t fixed the camera yet. i don’t think my needle-nosed pliers are long enough to shove the spring back into the tabs at the bottom of the battery compartment. out of warranty, so i think i will make a few calls to repair shops. it works fine otherwise, i.e., i haven’t worn it out like my previous cameras.

with valentine’s coming up, my better half thought it was timely, and plunked down some recent overtime money on a new camera body for me. it’s an upgrade from the one i’ve been shooting, and of course the menu is totally different.

he wanted me to get out and test it, in case he needed to return it. he fully expects me to hate it, as i have every other camera he has handed me.

i happened to know of a few things going on this past weekend. could have gone to mooneyes show out in irwindale, but i’m still unsure how i would do at a big show, so decided to go to the fundraiser for betty, who had passed away recently, out in montebello park. it was also the eighteenth birthday for her son. she seemed seemed so young, and was definitely well-loved. kind of a bummer all the way around.

due to the meds the doctor has given me, i slept in until nine. they are supposed to relax my nerves, to help my head and arm heal. mostly, i can’t sleep until the middle of the night, then i am a zombie until late morning, and struggle to be functional on work days. thankfully, i don’t have to drive to an office, and can just roll out of bed to work.

whatever the reason, we didn’t arrive until elevenish, way later than i am used to. we were pleasantly surprised at the number of clubs that had shown up to support the family, and plenty of cars to test the camera out on.

parking lot was full, and we got lucky finding a parking space a block away.

the weather had done a one-eighty from rain and winter chill, to this almost perfect summer day in the eighties. good news for the fundraiser, bad news for me. i can’t tolerate the heat anymore. i’m so falling apart.

we walked to the front of the park, better half making his way over to find a donation box. i saw some people i hadn’t seen in a while, and caught up a little.

decided we would stop with betty’s car (above), and shoot down the block, then cross the street shooting back up that side, with intentions of going through the cars in the parking lot.

i haven’t really shot much since i fell in october. i’m out of practice, this camera is quite set the way i like it. handed to my better half to see if he could dial in the settings in the endless menus. couldn’t find one setting, and i finally just decided to look it up later, and do some shots.

this late in the day/early in the afternoon, there is more traffic zipping by in the background. so i prefer to try and time the shots with the traffic lights. this camera has settings that let me do a short delay to let the camera settle, so i don’t have to use my remote shutter. the first few pictures are slightly shaky, i jiggled the tripod, or just didn’t let it settle out of nervousness.

this one isn’t as sharp as later pics, but i like it anyway. the files are a hell of a lot bigger and take up more hard drive space. i’m going to need a new computer soon. lol. bottomless pit upgrading gear.

anyway, we continued down the street as planned. i do notice my arms are turning pink from the sun. i’m wearing my hat to keep the sun off my scar, but it’s also holding in the heat on my head. my the time we get to the other side, i am already starting to feel a bit wobbly, and my arm is a little achy.

half-way down the other side, my better half is saying my face is getting red. he knows i’m stubborn about having to stop, but by the time we get to the true pride club tent, i tell him i don’t think i can continue. he says it’s about time i admitted it, and gets me across the street to some shade, and goes to find a bottle of water.

we sit a bit, pack up the bags. i have enough stubbornness to walk back to the car. past all the pretty cars i didn’t get to shoot. really sucks.

i don’t think he’ll be “letting me” go to any shows for a while, and not without him. “letting me,” is probably the wrong phrase, as, if i am determined, he can’t stop me, and he’d start packing his camera gear for the drive.

but i admit that i was kinda scared that i was so close to feeling like passing out, more than any other time before i was injured. more than that show in temecula, where it was over a hundred degrees out…that sucked too.

maybe the cold weather will come back. i’ll try again then.

back too soon, i guess. i’ll be dipping into my backup drives for a few more months, but at least i have plenty to keep me busy.

boy next door

i went to this cars for a cause show near my mom’s house last summer. she specifically wanted me to take a picture of this banged up panel truck.

that’s her neighbor. one of those project car guys. he has a couple of other cars in his garage that are in better shape than this, but he chose to bring this beater to this show.

i’m not sure he recognized me, as he seemed to be staring quizzically at me and my setup. would have preferred the hood closed, and him out of sight. but, he and his wife pulled up and instantly popped the hood and placed the bear on a chair out front.

shoot them as i find them, and if he thinks that’s a good look, well…

finally got around to looking at the cars from this show, since my mom has been bugging me about it, yet again.

in her neighborhood, cars are mostly hot rodded up, and i admire them, but don’t really care for them. they have no soul. they’ve lost their mojo.

best cars at this small event were an old impala and a chevy nomad. i guess i’ll have to decide if i care enough to post those.

at this moment, i’m feeling like chopping my hair off. just out of the shower, and it’s getting to be such a hassle to deal with.

i think it’s the longest i’ve had it, down to my lower back, but just barely. it’s getting really thrashed on the ends, and just makes my head feel hot all the time. constantly tearing up the left side in the seat belt.

i do like being able to tie it up and get it out of my way though, mostly in the house. it is tempting to just shave my head and grow it out again. maybe just to my chin. i’m kinda afraid that my stupid fine hair cut that short will just look like a messy karen cut. that’s not me.

better half does like it as is, so there’s that.

disco nights

booted up my computer for a change. been a while. found a catalog of pictures from the foursquare church show back in june. apparently i haven’t done anything with them, after driving out to whittier on a hot day. guess i got busy and forgot about them.

another show that has shrunk over the years. probably was another show the same day, i can’t remember.

check out the pinstriping and airbrushing on this kustom oldies car. pretty sweet.

it’s that time of year again. bah humbug.

mom’s birthday.

five years since dad died.

if i have to hear another version of that insipid, vapid, vacuous, intolerable chorus of “time for me to come home” song on just about every one of the damn hallmark channel movies my mom watches, it will be too soon. nasally renditions just hurting my eardrums echoing “christmas, christmas…” thanks, blake. hear cash registers ring.

i suppose the song is ok. the lyrics aren’t that bad. it’s just the chorus that is the nails on the chalkboard, depending on the singer.

better half had some days off, and still managed to get called in to work three of the five days. the first day, he ended up being awake for twenty-four hours.

he’s supposed to go back to normal hours tomorrow, but he started feeling really fatigued yesterday, and today he’s running a fever.

i suppose i’ll catch it in a few days.

good thing it’s “christmas, christmas,” so i won’t be working anyway. somehow my illnesses always happen when i have the opportunity to relax and unwind.

not many people working at my office next week, so it will be quiet for me. mostly uninterrupted catch up work, i never seem to be able to get to.

i continue to heal from my accident. another set of MRIs should give the doc more info on treating my arm problems.

had an eeg done of my brain, which consisted of something akin to a swim cap with some sketchy pins poked in all over it—i picture hellraiser, though not as cool.

first bit was eyes closed while they did a flashing light show, i guess to map parts of my noggin that noticed. followed by eyes closed and some questions asked for fifteen minutes.

i imagined the doctor should have said, “electricity will now be passed through your body. may god have mercy on your soul. roll on two.”

better half observed. he confirmed that there may be something in my skull, or else they were playing some cool video game.

asshole

excuse the title, it’s not about this beautiful car, out at mooneyes open house in 2019. slammed to the ground. would win the dollar contest between the car and the ground. shiny as shit too. nice nice nice.

no, i’m still fuming about a neighbor who seems to think the open parking spots next to his condo are his personal spots. he came out to bully me after he saw my better half drive away. they’re first come, first serve. if unavailable, drive to the back of the complex, sir. a little walk might do him good.

said he was going to complain to the hoa. i told him i was going to complain about he and his wife always parking for hours in the fire lane next to the fire hydrant.

useless security company won’t come out except if they have a car in the area, and cops won’t come into the “private property, ” so what are we paying for exactly?

i’m sending a strongly worded email to the hoa contact. he won’t do anything, but at least i’ll have it documented in case the guy decides to do anything to our car. better half had been covering his, but thought someone might have pissed on it last night.

so mad. and now i have a headache. never had issues before, when i parked out on the street. newer cars now, one goes in the garage, one in the complex. space happens to be open, we’re going to park there, asshole.

tic tac

here’s another beautiful car from an old memories club show in los angeles earlier this year. sprinkly goodness on the mirror finish.

what to talk about? would rather share an interesting story i’ve overheard at a car show, but haven’t been to any lately. people watching, there weren’t any people misbehaving either. just a good time, guys squeezing big cars into small spaces. always a wonder to watch how organized they can get, but understandable that they don’t want to bump into each other.

what did i mention in my last post? ya, more of the same. more tests in my future. probably a nerve being pinched. treat with meds to calm the nerves.

if that doesn’t work, physical therapy.

if that doesn’t work, they’ll look at surgery of some sort.

as a side note, something small, aside from my brain, was noted in my noggin, but they do not seem overly concerned. size of a tic tac. i prefer orange over mint.

my better half has been taking good care of me, especially on days when i’m more unsteady, which is most every day. i can manage to get around, but he doesn’t mind holding my hand at all. he’s the best.

as a designer, i still am trying to decide which serif font “L” i see when i look in the mirror. more for lucky than loser, i think.

this thing isn’t going to fade away anytime soon. i guess i’m ok with it.

could be worse.

addlepated

early morning in barrio logan / chicano park. all the cars polished to a mirror finish, as shown on this bel air. always a good show, and hoping to go again this year.

missing some car shows. the concussion has been making me dizzy and tired, and i think i’ve got a damaged nerve in my arm, making it difficult to carry my camera and tripod very far.

my brother was in town earlier in the month, so better half wanted to take him to some nearby airplane museums in chino. i went along, knowing it would not be a long day because of my brother’s health issues.

i prefer the planes of fame over yanks air museum, but better half started with yanks. i brought my gear, but left it in the car at this museum. i used my phone for the few shots i did take.

my brother was out of steam by the time we got to the other, though the MiGs did perk him up for a sec. i brought my camera and tripod in with me, intending to take some pictures that i mostly would not care about – i take them, then generally do not post most of these things.

i moved slowly, wore a dorky hat to protect the scar on my head from the sun, and took some pics. i did feel an ache in my arm, that one of the doctors believes to be a damaged nerve from the fall and landing partially on my hand, breaking the fall not at all.

so, i’m basically grounded as far as going to car shows for some period of time.

i guess it’s a good thing i have more than fifteen years’ worth of old pics to sift through for a while.

improving

here’s a packard we saw at a fundraiser in los angeles back in march. it rained that day, off and on. still some sprinkles on the fenders of this one. didn’t rain hard enough to scare us away, but did bag the camera a couple of times.

small show, but some lovely cars were there. space was tight, and some cars had a difficult time driving in, or for a few that had to leave early, getting out.

been a while since i looked through recent photos. two weeks since i bonked my head on the pavement. glue still holding my forehead together, but should be disintegrating little by little. still have a few appointments lined up, to be sure everything else checks out, but i am very lucky, it could have been so much worse.

vision is a little blurry, but i have a big monitor, so it’s not so bothersome. my arm is a bit weak, so carrying a camera and tripod around isn’t going to happen for a while. missed out on huffarama yesterday, so bummer.

my daughter has been working at the texas state fair for the past month, doing henna painting. today is the last day. she is so over it, and ready to come home. hopefully she made enough money to make it worth it, but i think the experience was worth it at least once. her birthday is coming up, but she’ll still be on the road with her friend, her dogs, and her tarantula. safe travels and happy birthday, my girl.

souvenir

throwback to an uptown whittier car show. i missed the dia de los muertos show this past weekend for reasons, so found this one on standby.

old cars are so much more elegant than cars of today. love those curves and details. i like this one parked in front of the facade of the old whittier village movie theatre.

————-

here’s a game for you. i’ve started a list of possibilities. wanting something more interesting and bad ass than what actually happened.

became the fifth ninja turtle, and i gave shredder the first, and last, move
really like freddie kruger
embroidered the “L” from happy days in the wrong place, while looking in a mirror
trampled by over-zealous chicago marathon runners
went one round with mike tyson
took up hockey
getting ready for halloween
hit by a bus
played patty cake with the jolly green giant
took a meteor shower
wrong side of a curveball
amazon prime day
sleepwalk into a doorway
participated on one of those game shows with rotating obstacles
a cane corso thought i was dinner - i’m not ramsey bolton
opened up a can of whoop-ass accidently
turns out i’m not a gymnast
you should see the other guy
shuttlecock
here’s a piece of my mind
t-rex attacked
caught the tshirt at a baseball game
edward scissorhands is my friend
embraced by a facehugger
lobotomy
got in the way of a touchdown/excessive end zone celebration
enter the dragon - i didn’t win
tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch
started a buffalo stampede
took a long walk off a short pier
godzilla!
none of the above

graphic warning - avert your eyes if you’re squeamish.

nothing that exciting. get your coffee, if you have nothing better to do than read this account. snippets of memory.

tl;dr: i tripped and fell on a sidewalk

recently visited chicago with my better half. he wanted to take pictures of boats at sunset, playing with the lenses he brought with him. he wanted to see beautiful bokeh of twinkling lights.

we were staying in a hotel in the loop, near union station. the walk towards the riverwalk and navy pier was about a mile away, maybe a twenty minute walk.

i didn’t feel like shooting, so was tagging along. my back was tired from carrying a camera around the previous days, at the science and industry museum, architectural tour via boat, and earlier in the day, the field museum.

i’d wanted to get out earlier, and have dinner first, then thought better of it, that we might miss sunset, so were going to the river first and pick up dinner on the way back.

we hadn’t quite reached the iconic chicago theatre sign, it’s neon lights already on. chatting about nothing.

then, i felt my shoe catch, an uneven sidewalk crack, and in spite of another step to try and avoid a fall, it was inevitable. i don’t think i quite windmilled my arms. i just remember a steel grate coming towards my face.

yup, a header into a serated sidewalk grate over an air vent. better half describes it as an industrial-strength cheese grater.

better half says i passed out for a few seconds. he and the three people behind us on the street got me turned over and sat me up. says i was a blood fountain. when i came around, i remembered i had saved some extra napkins from breakfast, so was able to apply pressure to my head, while better half and the other people tried to think best what to do. i wanted to just walk back to hotel, but after he showed me a picture of my head, i knew i needed to see a doctor.

then the question was ambulance or uber. i’m still just sitting on the ground meantime. probably in shock. better half called for an uber to the nearest hospital. better half has used uber maybe once, long ago.

better half and the older guy in the group of three got me up off the ground. no way i was getting up otherwise. my knees are scraped…i can feel it…but don’t seem broken.

he spots the black suv uber xl across the one-way street. they gimp me over there, profusely thanking the people for helping and waiting with us.

the car gets rolling while we buckle up. off we go. better half is asking if the driver can hurry and get us to the hospital.

when i hear the driver ask if we’d changed the destination, followed by “is your name mike?,” i already knew he got us in the wrong car.

driver refused taking us to the hospital, that his customers were waiting and that he would be fired. we’d only gone a couple of blocks, so a couple of turns later, we were back where we started. our uber was waiting for us, since better half had called to explain.

that driver was good. skipped the high traffic route and opted for lower-level streets and tunnels to the other side of the river. made it to the emergency room door in under ten minutes.

let me take a breath, and sip this strawberry-banana smoothie my better half brought me…

where was i? we arrived about seven p.m. usual city hospital on a saturday evening—busy. triage. people with sneezes, broken bones that have been temporarily set, homeless people looking for something, random aches, and here’s me with a butchered head. temp and blood pressure taken, and sent to find a seat.

they called me back for a second triage session two hours later. also to determine if better half had something to do with the injuries. he had no scrapes or other “evidence” so took me at my word. sent back to waiting room.

had better half call my mother. said she cried. was my sister’s birthday, so he talked to her later. i let my kids know first via text. i didn’t feel like talking.

hour four, there was a fight outside the er door, all security guards outside to break it up.

they came for me at hour five, put me in a wheelchair, as my knees were really stiff by then, and put us in a room. it’s a hive of activity behind the scenes.

a nurse came by to take some notes. another nurse rolled me out for a ct scan, since i landed on my head. only minimal scrapes on one hand, so i stopped my fall mostly with my forehead. i got uncontrollable shivers…adrenaline coming down, i suppose.

an hour later, they came for xrays of my knees.

soon after, the doctor came by to shoot up the cuts so it could be cleaned out and to decide which way to repair it. no concussion or broken bones. could have been so much worse. i have thought of an assortment of different endings, but better half doesn’t want to flounder in those thoughts.

about that time, five gunshot victims were heading in, so they had to move me out to the hallway, my forehead numbed and ready. waiting. dude was rolled into my previous location. he’d been shot by the girlfriend. she rolled in down the hall, screaming. he’d shot her in the foot. he wanted his phone to call her. then to call his mom and dad. then his people. denied. denied. denied. both were ultimately “relaxed” so work could be done.

i could only see the girl’s room. her screaming lasted ten minutes before they put her out. didn’t sound like it felt good. better half said the guy had a quick chat with the cops before he started telling a nurse about flowers growing out of his hand and quieting down.

nurse came by after a couple of hours and most of the craziness had died down. gave me some jello to eat. i got a tetanus shot in the hallway. i had to have more lidocaine shots in my head as too much time had passed. got the cuts cleaned of dirt and hair and dried blood.

two doctors consulted and decided crazy glue for skin would be best in this case. going to have a lovely scar.

finally released at sixish in the morning. over eleven hours. no dinner. still dark.

better half called an uber. security had blocked the driveway to the door, so we limped down to the sidewalk. watched the map say he was nine minutes away. then twelve. then nine. then eight. then three. and wouldn’t you know it, he pulled up to the opposite side of the driveway. gimped over there.

remember i mentioned the chicago marathon? yup, every which way this guy tried to go was blocked. after ten minutes of u-turns, we ended the ride, opting to walk.

had to climb up some stairs to street level. we were close to navy pier, and got our bearings. surrounded by people heading towrds the starting line, coming back in search of coffee or friends. and there we were, me stiff-zombie walking, a big bandage covering my forehead and dried blood in my hair, and my big, long haired better half…my hero.

i pointed out, that here we are crossing a bridge over the river, at sunrise. look at the lights on the boats. the twinkling in the water. the warming light. there. there was the shot he was looking for yesterday, i giggled. he still had the cameras with him. there was an empty viewing space in front of us.

he didn’t take the shot. he was tired and stressed, and wasn’t interested anymore. just wanted to get me back safely. it would have been perfect. oh well.

took about an hour to get to the hotel. i can’t remember if we got lunch before or after we crashed in bed for several hours of sleep.

the past couple of days, the swelling has moved south, giving me black eyes. when we’ve finally headed out for meals, better half has been getting big stink-eye from people. they only half believe the story, and i am not being beaten.

we ultimately decided to continue with our planned and paid for return home on the train. i wouldn’t have been able to stand bending my knees for that long on a plane, and better half can’t fit a plane seat, being so tall. thought about driving, and stopping as needed, sleeping in real beds each night. he thought there were too many stretches of nothing, had there been an emergency.

figured we could get off a train at a major stop for help or to get to an airport if needed.

i have to work monday, and my eyes are already opening up again, so i guess i will work, back into the frying pan…

so i have a permanent souvenir of our short-lived vacation.