Brain Farts

this was a truly stressful weekend. **rubs temples**

my car (whom stephen has lovingly named Jo) suffered some sort of debilitating seizure on saturday night after showing appartent symptoms for several months. we were on our way to do a Pampered Chef show at my brother/sister-in-law's house, when we pulled over at a supermarket. the woman next to me was blasting Pakistani House music, so i turned my car off, put the key in Auxillary and cranked up DJ John Michael Presents Pride Volume 1. she left, stephen came out and when i went to turn the car on...nothing. actually it was a weird ticking/grinding noise (like Katherine Hepburn hocking up phlegm). that was that. she stayed in the parking lot of the supermarket overnight (my dad picked us up and brought us to and from the show) till we towed it to a garage on Sunday. Sunday, was Father's Day which meant dinner at mom's. Stephen had plans to see his father on LI, but couldn't go because he had no way of getting there (despite his best efforts, i still feel guilty about that). i also feel guilty that my dad had to come and schlep us back and forth to the garage and then home and to their house. i hate being that guy who needs rides and inconveniences people (even if they are family); i was that guy for a very long time (i've only been driving, like, 6 years) and i realize what a pain in the ass it is to be friends with that guy. anyhoo...Father's Day dinner was like any other dinner at Mom and Pop's: i felt the usual tension and overwhelming desire to flee as soon as possible; stephen was indifferent and amiable to my family's quirkiness. we went home watched Bewitched Season 2 on DVD and sweated it out till bedtime.
Monday brought Doctor Demonico: Neuro-Surgeon. ok that's not his name, but it's what sticks out in my head. his real name is Dr Shiau; he's fairly young and trendy-asian: gorgeous suit/shirt/tie combo, nice shoe, nice glasses. his opinion? get a hearing test and see if the pea-sized tumor is fucking with my hearing (yes, i'm paraphrasing). if there is a hearing loss we discuss our options (which is really only one option: Surgery). i'm loathe to admit he made an excellent case for surgery, saying the risk of something going wrong is arund 3%. he also said that radiation is useless because the tumor is "slow growing". if there isn't any sigificant hearing loss, then he suggests getting another MRI and Hearing test in 6 months and tracking both the growth of the tumor and any loss in hearing.
with that news i went to pick up my car which needed a new alternator and inspection (i had gotten a ticket while at the Rufus concert because my inspection had expired in October of 2005. who knew you had to get that checked every year?). the new alternator only cost me $25o which was about $150 less than what i was expecting. now i can breathe a little easier knowing that my car and brain are both hanging on a little longer.

i just wanna say thanks, by the way, for everyone's love, support and good wishes through all of this. you've all been so wonderful and i truly feel lucky to have such fantastic friends as you. i really don't think i could've gotten through this without you all (especially Stephen and John who've gone to the doctor with me and seen me freak out). i love you.

"The equality that we are all entitled to, as citizens of this democracy, can't be avoided by some religious dogma of a President who's is supposed to believe in the notion of separation of church and state. And he frankly doesn't".~ Rosie O'Donnell