Japan Plan

On a bone-chilling day, planned for warm weather in places I love. Made hotel reservations for a three-week trip to Japan with Dwight, our nephew, and his dad. We’ll fly to Kagoshima, then slowly make our way to Tokyo by train. The pandemic put the kibosh on previous attempts at this trip.

A Little of What You Fancy…

Stocked up at Seward Co-op for our weekly Sausage Saturday. “A little of what you fancy does you good.” (From a 1915 English music hall song.)

Imaginary Airport

On my Skyway walk, I imagined I was in an airport heading for a warm-weather destination. Here, in Hennepin County Government Center, monitors direct individuals to court-related rooms. Security screening is just around the corner.

Big Boy Toy

Walked the Mall of America with friends. Made an impulse purchase at the LEGO store: a reward for riding a medical rollercoaster in the past 24 hours. (It ended well, reward enough.) There’s a tradition here: whenever I visited “the doctor’s big house” (hospital) as a kid, my dad would give me a toy car.

Eyes to Thighs PET/CT Scan

Got injected with a radioactive tracer that sticks to prostate cancer cells, prior to being slid through a hybrid PET/CT scanner. This will help determine if I qualify for a clinical trial. The tracer and the high sensitivity of the scanner are recent innovations.

Categorized as Cancer

Balancing Act

We were a little deficient in the cruciferous department while traveling this past week. Today we started to redress the balance with roasted broccoli.

Categorized as Cook

Makes You Think

Unintended triptych, left to right: Dwight at the Getty Center today (pack in front as required by museum guards); sculpture depicting 17th century femininity; “Joey at the Love Ball,” drag, 1991. A few provocative juxtapositions of contemporary and pre-1900 European art are scattered throughout the galleries.

A Focus on Normal Activities

Last appointment of the day: haircut by Emily. I’ve known her 30 years and look forward to our conversations. Earlier, managed to sandwich GED tutoring between a radioactive tracer injection and a whole-body bone scan. All those activities were on today’s walk: I choose to live as normally as possible.

Something New

There’s 9½ miles of skyways in Minneapolis. My goal today was to find a section I’ve never walked before. This section, running through Thrivent Financial’s headquarters, was new to me. Until 2013 Thrivent only served Lutherans; today they serve a broader market.