GIANT Update

Again, it has been a while and time has FLOWN by.
Phew!

OK, so last week was a little of a blur. Monday was fine, you know work, all the bosses were here, etc. On my way to work on Tuesday I suddenly realized that I was supposed to have jury duty the entire week. You just basically call in and the computer tells you if you have to show up. I call the city and they tell me, my group hasn’t been called yet and to keep calling the rest of the week. So, I have to go and tell my boss that I messed up my schedule and forgot I may have to go into jury duty. He was cool about it, I mean, really, what can you do…nothing. So, sure enough, I call on Tuesday evening and I have to report on Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM. I was supposed to get my biopsy results at 8:30 and now I have to report to jury duty. I called the doctor and they said just to call them when I can come in. I get to jury duty on Tuesday morning and wait in the room with all of the other unlucky people. Just as I fall asleep, they start calling names, it is now about 10:45 AM. My name is called and we all go up to one of the court rooms. The judge introduces herself and gives us a run down of the case, and starts listing names for the jury box. Then I hear my name, crap! I get to the box and then when 24 people are in place, we have to all answer some questions that are being passed around on a laminated sheet of paper. Name, neighborhood you live in, how long you have been a resident of San Francisco, education, occupation, if you live with any other adults what is their occupation and have you ever had jury duty before and when. After all of that, the attorney’s ask questions that may pertain to the case, does anyone have anything against the police, etc. bad experiences with the police, good experiences with the police. Does anyone not have a drivers license, anyone been incarcerated for driving under the influence, etc. They weed out the outspoken and I remain seated. Great, I have been picked to be on the jury of a traffic case that should last no more than 3 days. First of all, I don’t get paid from my job for it and they don’t give you an opportunity to tell them any of that. Well, I am in, I mind as well enjoy it. So at 11:45 AM they tell us we can go and come back tomorrow (Thursday) at 9:30 AM and the trial will begin. At this point, I am excited to be in the civic center and have the afternoon off. I make my way over to the adult immunization clinic to see if I need any shots for India. Oh, I forgot to mention that, yes, I am going to India at the end of February. I walk into the clinic without an appointment and just my luck, they can take me. So I get a polio booster and a flu shot, nice. I love watching the fluid from the syringe go into my body for some reason, I know, weird. When that is done, I walk over to the main library to use the internet because I don’t have my oral surgeon’s phone number and maybe he can see me this afternoon now that it is open. I get his number and call and sure enough, they can take me at 2:00 PM. I walk from civic center downtown, nice size walk and a little hilly so when I get there, I am sweaty and gross. I need to clean up, my doctor is very nice looking and I don’t want to look like I just “fell off the turnip truck” as my Mom would say. As a matter of fact, my doctor is HOT. I blush when he is looking in my mouth. Ha ha! How much do I love drooling and bleeding all over my doctor…so embarrassing. Anyway, he comes and gets me and first tells me that he is not going to put me in an exam chair, he needs to talk to me in this little private room on the side. He offers me water; I ask if I am going to need it. I mean, what on earth is he going to tell me? So, he then tells me that the biopsy came back stating that the thing he removed was a piece of bone which is very rare. He then admits his love for me and takes me right there on the table, oh, I mean, he then admits that he was a little scared that it was going to be bad news and was relieved when he got the results. So, I was happy and walked out, checked out the kittens in the Macy’s window from the SPCA and got myself a cookie and cappuccino at Neiman Marcus, sat and read my book for a while. I made my way back to Macy’s where Tim picked me up. Before he got to me I called Angela since she had tried me while I was in the store. We spoke for a while and she told me her sister has skin cancer. It rocked me. I felt sick all night. It was a weird day. I mean, I find out I don’t have cancer, but then find out someone very, very close to me has a sister who has cancer. I bring up a photo from my internal brain camera of dinner with her sister years ago, I remember her face and what she wore. I remember that she was cracking me up all night. I know she will get through this, I just feel awful though. Geeze, I would rather it have been me who had to go through that and not a 28 year old beautiful girl. Ugh, things happen for reasons we will never know. She is in my prayers and I know she is going to be fine. Tim and I go out for dinner at Max’s, I pick at my food. We go home; I have a good cry in the bath tub alone and go to bed. I sleep like a baby.

Thursday, I get to the court room and wait for everyone to get there. Why in the world can’t people be on time? You know, the two people that were late were in the Army, if they had been in the Marines they would have been on time! Ha ha, just kidding, well, kind of. So, they start the case and the entire thing in a nutshell without all of my personal input was, there was a man driving with a suspended license and he did not believe that it was suspended. The cop came in and someone from the DMV came in and it was obvious that the man had been notified. The twist was, you knew when he took the stand that he wasn’t right in the head, however, we couldn’t take that into consideration since it was not mentioned in the courtroom and was not on record. He was found guilty. The trial lasted a day and I was back to work the next day. Oh, one additional thing, I did have a nice lunch at Max’s (yes, I ate there again). I had a big salad and a glass of wine and sat next to a very vivacious 70 year old who was on her way to the symphony. She told me retirement is great and we got to talking and she knows one of my neighbors and was also familiar with the newsletter my aunt use to print when she was out here in the early 70’s. She was a librarian and was really active in the women’s movement. Super cool lady!

Friday, I went back to work and tried to catch up. It takes forever. Friday night I went to see my dear friend Sara’s calendar on display at San Francisco Center for the Book. It was an entire calendar show, it was fabulous and Tim and I did some Christmas shopping.

Saturday, I ran errands and then it was Apache time! We had to ride inside because it was pouring rain outside and thundering. The horses in the stable were acting very strange that night due to the weather, one kept knocking his foot against the side of his stall. Apache did really well. Learning the mechanics of a horse is not easy. Learning his idiosyncrasies is the hardest thing in the world. He bolted once, I just held on. I love him so much. We shared an apple after my ride. I would take a bite and then put it in my hand and he would eat it while I took a bite for myself. I love to spoil him. I walked him back to his stall in the rain and he slipped on one foot, it freaked me out, but I calmed when I realized he really didn’t even notice he slipped. When we got to his stall, I went in with him and took off his halter and kissed him on the nose and told him he was very good and I loved him. I shut the door and hung over the gate for a while and talked to him while we ate carrots.

Sunday, we put up our Christmas tree and cleaned house a bit so we could make room for the holiday décor. I usually change out my dishes and everything but didn’t do that this time. It was too much. Maybe next year. Our tree is plain and simple just like I like it. Bay-Lee is having fun trying to figure out why we have a tree in the house which is cute. He keeps trying to get on the table with the little tree but he can’t fit up there anymore.

Monday late afternoon after an offsite meeting in the city with AG (my boss). I went to SF MOMA to check out the Phil Collins video art installation (not Phil Collins from down under, the other one from the UK, the artist). He put up ads in Istanbul for a Smith’s Karaoke night and he filmed it. It is hilarious. It is like a train wreck, I got totally sucked in. It is worth checking out and good from some laughs. I also went to check out the Keifer exhibit, it was almost too dark for me, if that is it all possible. Lack of color and made me feel empty, blank and dark. It is called Heaven and Earth. It is interesting to read about his work though. My favorite besides the Phil Collins thing was the Alexander Girard exhibit, he used to design for Herman Miller, so things were very modern and colorful. It was a really nice way to finish off the day.

Now it is Wednesday. Tonight is the Women’s Committee Christmas Dinner and Gift Exchange at the Maltese American Social Club. Phew, that was a lot to get out. It should be fun. I am taking my camera, I hope to get some good shots.

I will be better about writing more often. Sorry to all my blog fans of which I am sure there are thousands, NOT!

Love you all!
The Maltese Kat