"The Happiest Place on Earth"

The last place on my list of places to go--post chemo--was Disneyland or Disney World. And last weekend, I got to go to Disneyland with Maggie and some of her Girl Scout friends.

Sooooo much fun. First off--I genuinely enjoy the "house of the mouse", so to speak. And Robert & Deirdre Bauer were there (well, to be truthful, they drove, and arranged the hotel, and bought the tickets to the parks... um, they did most of the heavy lifting to be truthful), so, in addition to just having fun with the girls, I also had fun with two other adults who genuinely enjoy being in Disney territory.

I didn't end up getting to do Space Mountain, but I *did* get to do Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and most important of all--Peter Pan's Flight. Here are the girls in front of the entrance to California Adventure (where they went on the river raft ride five times). I love Disneyland. I would go there again next weekend, if I could.

After two days in Disneyland, we spent a day at the Huntington, sort of on our way back home. I got to see one of the Gutenberg bibles and an original complete Shakespeare folio, along with a new exhibition of Lincoln memorabilia (which they called "Lincolniana"). To kick off the exhibition, they had a Civil War era band playing Stephen Foster music, and a Lincoln impersonator. He was checking out the exhibits when Robert and I toured the show later. I couldn't resist taking this picture.

Picking Up, and Then Some!

I completed treatment last March (I wrote "finishing" at first and that seems like tempting the gods. Who knows if I'm finished? I'll be having a mammogram every six months for the next five years. So, let's just keep those clean so we stay "finished" and don't have to "resume" any treatment activities.)

And there you have my frame of mind. Last March I hit the ground running--literally. My friend Robert and I took Emily to San Simeon on her Spring Break (with a stopover in Cambria for lunch and a night at the amazing Madonna Inn). Then I met some college friends for some fun in Bloomington, IN and my sisters for even more fun in Chicago. Frank and I spent our 25th anniversary in NYC and then all four of us enjoyed a week in Twain Harte--one of our favorite places--at the end of the summer.

Maggie has started high school and Em is deep into the theater program in her sophomore year at UCSB. I'm taking on some of the projects I neglected last year at work and I'm a busy volunteer again.

Mostly, life has been getting back to normal. We like routine in our home. We like being together, and we also like the constancy of all of us being at home. It feels good. And right now I am throwing a bit of wrench into all that.

Last night I did something I've been wanting to do for several years now--I've joined a choir. It's been a while, so my sight-reading is really lousy (I was all over the map last night in practice). But the director said I have a "nice sound" and he appreciated my range. So, we'll work out the kinks as we go along, and I'll thoroughly enjoy doing it. And this Thursday I'm starting a Bollywood dance class at the Berkeley Y with some girlfriends (Hi Karen & Sarah!).

I figured out my schedule for the next 8 weeks or so, and I'll be out of the house two to three nights each week. In the somewhat recent past, this all would have felt a little much. But right now I'm very much in the mode of "what exactly are we waiting for?" and doing the things I want to do.

Frank, as usual, is nothing but supportive. He likes hearing me sing and so is glad I'm getting to do more of it. And I'm sure I'll have fun learning the Bollywood dancing, and Frank is sure I'll have fun, too.    ;-)

And now for some philosphizing. (Warning! Deep Thoughts Ahead!)

I was recently chatting online with a young woman who is finishing up cancer for breast treatment (or, as she calls it, "The Bullshit") and I was telling her that there's no going back. That it's happened and the treatment is part of who you are now. And then it hit me, duh. That that's always been true. I'm sure that's obvious to all of you, but sometimes these very basic truths hit me right between the eyes. It's sort of like when I got to age 35 and it struck me, pretty much like a thunderbolt, that this is it. It's not a dress rehearsal: this is life. And I'm never going to be a rock star (that was a hard one to let go of...), and if there's anything I want to do, then I'd better get on with it.

To a great extent, I think I *do* do that. With the big things, anyway. But life intervenes, and it's easy to put some things aside for later.

I'll continue to put some things aside for later (becoming a world famous cabaret singer, for example). But some things, I'm figuring, I should do if I want to do them. And so through mid-May, I'll have choir practice once or twice a week. And for the next eight weeks, I'll be dancing along to fabulous Indian music at the Berkeley Y. Now I just need to figure out how to find the time to see the Oscar nominees before the awards show...

Jury Duty

Well, I'll tell you I was more than a little bugged about having jury duty today. I went to Nevada to campaign for Mr. Obama back in November and I was really looking forward to the ceremony today. But I called the jury duty number last night and was told that I had to show up at the courthouse no later than 8:30 a.m. this morning.

First--I did not get chosen for a jury. And while most of me feels like "whew! I dodged *that* bullet," I also have to rhapsodize a bit about Judge Lawrence Appel. I've never seen a judge get a room of prospective jurors more interested in serving on a jury. He was cordial and friendly and respectful. I seriously would not have minded getting "stuck" on a jury.

Second--When I arrived at the Jury Room at the Alameda Superior Court, all the televisions were tuned to the inauguration.

Imagine a room filled with more than 200 people. Remember that this is a major metropolitan area. In that room there was every color, every creed, every age (well, above 18, anyway), and we all were sharing the inauguration together. We all applauded and we all laughed (and some of us, ahem, wept a little). And we all stood when Mr. Obama took the oath of office. It felt so wonderful to share this event with people I don't know, but with whom I share a democracy. Words won't serve. But I'm still glowing, after six hours of sitting through voir dire.

Yay us!

Back to "Normal"...

...whatever that means. ;-)

I had a check-up with my oncologist on Monday and a blood test revealed that all my numbers are back to normal. (During treatment, I had been getting a steady dose of Neulasta to keep my count high enough to allow me to keep up the bi-weekly chemo treatments. These injections stopped, of course, when the chemo treatments stopped, and last June, my white blood cell count was somewhat low. Now, all is good again.) And since my most recent mammogram (December 1) was nice and clean, and my exam with Dr. Kuan yielded nothing scary, I don't have to have any more blood tests when I visit her. Yay!

In other news, we all went to see Slumdog Millionaire last weekend, with Jackie & Yusuf. A wonderful movie, and we followed it with curries and naan at Cafe Raj. A terrific date—I recommend it.

(Also, it's been a shocking two months since my last post. I'm getting back on the weekly wagon, just in case anyone is still reading.)

Gobama!

Or, my friend Deirdre, the rock star

Deirdre and I spent the weekend in the Reno area of Nevada, canvassing for Obama. It was an interesting experience. We met some angry people, some friendly people, some hostile people, and some hopeful people.

When we arrived at her place at Incline Village, we found the Rolling Stone cover from July--with Obama on the cover--signed by the man himself. "To the Bauers, thank you for your support. Barack Obama." This magazine was addressed to Emily, and we had left it there over the July 4 weekend. But given that the signature is addressed to the Bauers (and given that they have been providing shelter to Obama campaign workers for the past month or two), I guess it's theirs to keep. ;-)

We went to Reno on Saturday morning, along with about 2000 other Obama volunteers, to be met by a full rainbow over the city. Deirdre and I started counting good omens.

The campaign sent us to Sparks, and working there was a bit of a downer. The neighborhood we walked seemed like it could be friendly enough but this election has a lot of people on edge.

We each had a "turf", with a list of names & addresses of voters who have not been regular voters. We also had their age, gender, political party affiliation, and any indication of how they were expected to vote (based on phone polling). Mostly, we were there to "Get Out the Vote" (GOTV), but occasionally we had someone we were supposed to "Persuade".

Anyone who knows Deirdre knows that she can talk the paint off a post. She also is somewhat disarming. So, though we had fingers pointed at us and at least one door slammed in our faces, Deirdre remained upbeat and was the best companion for this weekend I could imagine.

On Sunday, they sent us to Sun Valley. Though more economically depressed, the people there were friendlier, overall (coincidence?) We had a number of people express their gratitude for our work and their anticipation of voting.

My favorite, favorite, favorite story from this weekend is actually Deirdre's. But she doesn't have a blog, so I'll share it on her behalf. :-)

We were down a dirt/gravel road, in a circle of three or four prefab/mobile homes. Deirdre walked up the steps of one of the homes, knocked on the door, and asked the older gentleman who answered for the name on our list, a woman's name. We'll call her "Debbie".

Deirdre: I'm Deirdre, with Obama's Campaign for Change. Is Debbie here?
MOTH (man of the house): No, she's not here.
D: Do you expect her later? Should I come back?
MOTH: No, she's not coming back till December, at the earliest.
D: Oh, is she out of town?
MOTH: You could say that... She's in prison.

(He then starts telling Deirdre about the pyramid scheme "Debbie" was involved in and how she used someone else's credit card.)

D: I'm sorry. Is she your wife?
MOTH: Nope, she's my daughter-in-law.
D: Oh! Is your son going to vote?
MOTH: Don't think so.... He's in prison, too.

At this point, I believe Deirdre just asked the man how he was going to vote. I can't remember if he was registered and going to vote for Obama, or unregistered and would have voted for Obama if he could. But he was a hoot, for sure.

The next gravel road over, in a circle of another four prefab/mobile homes, I walked by three dogs who started barking. This got a dog over on the left going, and then two more over on the right joined in. Deirdre and I were surrounded by six barking dogs and we just started cracking up. Maybe you had to be there, but we thought the whole thing was just hilarious.

When no one answered, we left literature and then revisited later, to see if the literature was still there. Often it was, but if it was gone, we made a second attempt to make contact. It was a long two days, and Saturday evening, I think we both were feeling kind of down. But Sunday was reinvigorating and we relaxed that evening, basking in the feeling of having done a good thing.

However you're going to vote, be sure to do it today. Enjoy the fruits of this wonderful democracy of ours!

I Seem to Have Touched a Nerve

I strongly suspect I am a proud member of the "small clique in Albany [that] have been running a very negative campaign against the candidates endorsed by the Democratic Party and the Sierra Club."

How did I, a humble lifetime Democrat (in fact, I'm leaving for Reno this evening to knock on doors for the esteemed Mr. Obama) end up running with such questionable types? I'm glad you asked.

First, go here and read the letter from Nan Wishner and then the letter from me. Hopefully, it will put things in perspective.

Honestly, I find it more than a little laughable that *I* am being accused of Karl Rovian tactics. I wrote a letter to a small, local website. The Sierra Club has blanketed Albany's doorsteps with an accusation of "negative campaigns". Have I missed something? Have other people written--or otherwise distributed--attacks on the local Sierra Club or Democratic Party candidates?

So, read the letters and then read the flyer and then ask yourself, "Who has the sour grapes?" I would be outraged if I didn't find their cynicism so laughable. John Muir is spinning in his grave...

Sorry It's Been So Long

Wow. Six weeks since I last updated. I'm so sorry. Of course, that assumes anyone is still reading. ;-)

So, we joined a multitude of our Albany neighbors at an Obama fundraiser ages ago (well, it *feels* like ages ago) and Deirdre B and I got the volunteer fever (someone gave me post-its with the infamous "Stop me before I volunteer again" slogan). But the Obama guy was more interested in the Bauers' place in Incline Village as possible housing for campaign workers. So, she and I went to the MoveOn website and volunteered to canvas in Nevada the first weekend in November.

We both got emails about a week and a half ago, saying that what they really needed was not people canvassing the weekend before the election, but rather people working on election day and the day before. Deirdre and I both work full-time, so that wasn't going to work. Meanwhile, I got a phone call from the Obama campaign asking if I could go to Las Vegas this weekend. That wasn't going to work for a multitude of reasons (including my lack of frequent flier miles).

Finally, Deirdre got a phone call last night (Tuesday, seven days before the election) asking if she could go to Reno this weekend. She called me and--voila!--we're going to Reno this weekend. The Obama campaign called me today to confirm I was going, and so it looks like we're set.

And, Obama did his "infomercial" tonight. I went to google to see if I could link to this wonderful video for this blog, and--I kid you not--one of the choices that appeared in the Search box was "barack obama antichrist". Wow. Frank says that Rush Limbaugh has said that Obama "hypnotizes" people. Because, heaven knows, it couldn't be that people are just disgusted with their loss of civil rights, the economy, or an unending war. No, it must be that he's "magic". Hello, Salem anyone?

My word I am sooooooooooo ready for this election to be over. Well, and for Bush to be on his way out and Obama to be on his way in. That would be nice.