Well, I lied about the “live from Seattle” broadcast in the last post, as I am now back in Los Angeles. But those few faithful readers of this blog probably expected as much. The great news is that Pdaddy survived his 8-hour esophagectomy and has been recovering up in Seattle like a trooper. And seriously, folks, this is a particularly difficult (dare I say horrendous?) recovery and Pdaddy deserves oodles of credit for his ongoing good attitude. How would you like it if you weren’t allowed to drink anything for days, eat anything for months, and had to sleep with your head at a 30-degree angle for the rest of your life? I, for one, would not like it. I also would not like the constant poking, prodding, draining, blood-taking, and 14-different IV tubes refilling that Pdaddy was subjected to during his week-long hospital stay. (Double hooray—as I was writing this post I received word that Pdaddy had just been discharged from the hospital, several days earlier than anyone expected!!) When Pdaddy finally returns to his home on the range in AZ, he will get another round of chemo as a welcome back present. And yet he hasn't complained a whit. I hope he realizes how much the whole wide world appreciates everything he has endured and given up just so we all can have the luxury of hanging out with him for awhile longer.
The not-nearly-as-great-but-still-good news is that I got to see Seattle on a few short occasions, and it only confirmed the opinions I had formed through prior visits and years of Frasier reruns. If, like me, you attended high school in the early nineties and are therefore acquainted with oldies bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Mudhoney (I know, I know… it’s hard to remember a time when band names weren’t required to begin with an article) and if, like me, you occasionally experience nostalgia for that long-lost, dirty-haired era, I might suggest taking a trip to Seattle, where nothing has changed since 1993. Sick of the young ruffians loitering at your local shopping mall in their tight-fitting, gluteus-eliminating skinny jeans? In Seattle, I saw tons of kids still wearing the long-johns & combat shorts combo that Matt Dillon donned in Singles. Tired of the Seacrest metrohair phenom? In Seattle, there were plenty of guys still sporting the half-shaved, half-long hairstyle that Anthony Kiedis had before his coif was so obviously influenced (infiltrated?) by the likes of Keith Urban, Pete Wentz and Ellen Degeneres. (Seriously, will someone please cancel his subscription to US Weekly before he gets a John Mayer perm? I know I’ll probably get in big trouble for saying this, but some people just look better when they’re strung out on heroin.)
The kinda bad news? Well, if you live in Seattle, it’s apparently kinda bad news that it rains a lot there. This was a bit surprising to me and Mary Ess and Pdaddy, all of whom naively assumed that people in Seattle were used to the ample precipitation for which the area is famed. Not so. It rained while I was there, and this was BIG NEWS. As in, “let’s cut into the DNC and the GOP VP announcement and other large, acronominizable events to talk about how it’s still raining” BIG NEWS. Err… I don’t get it. In LA, that kind of “news” would have been relegated to the very end of the newscast, along with all the gang-related shootings. In LA, if it didn’t warrant regular updates on TMZ that day, it wasn’t big news. (Of course, in LA we are also in such a state of drought that we could really use some big news kind of rain. I swear, Gov. Schwarzenegger is now asking us to recycle the water we use to brush our teeth.)
The worst news? LA is sunny, but smoggy, and it looks flat and void of greenery when one has just returned from a week in Washington. Today the rush-hour traffic doubled, as it always does on the day after Labor Day, officially signaling the end of summer. And today I had to go back to work.
11 comments:
Thanks so much for the update. We're still praying for PDaddy and his recovery. I'm so glad you got to spend a whole week with your parents. How great is that? Hope the transition back to your regular life goes well.
So sorry to hear that PDaddy has been through so much. Take it from someone who spent four days in the hospital last week - they suck! And my health problems don't compare in any way to what PDaddy is obviously going through. Big shout out to the S family!
note to self - i must visit seattle.
Hooray for PDaddy and ditto about Kiedis. But remember when we put a picture of him in a frame and called him Mom's boyfriend? (Kiedis, not Dad.)
Those were the glory days. Back when The Nirvanas weren't rock martyrs.
we were in seattle a few years ago, it was gorgeous and we didn't have a drop of rain. we majorly lucked out. but the people seemed exactly like every stereotype we had ever heard. we went to the whole foods and felt like it was 1969.
hooray for hospital discharge!
yay for pdaddy! glad to hear things are moving along so well! :)
i was in seattle a couple years ago in sept for a week and it didn't rain once! i was stoked cuz we expected it to rain everyday :P
Sorry you had to go back home. Thanks for the PDaddy update. You are such a great writer; I am always in awe! And Mrs. Dub stole my line about The Nirvanas. Dang.
Just so you know ... we miss you desperately. I also thought you would like to know that it's sunny and warm here and will be for the rest of the week.
And those were some mighty fine memories of my boyfriend, Anthony that Mrs. Dub brought up.
Yep ... those were the days when his illustrious picture was in the window of your dollhouse.
What a huge ordeal for your dad. He is in our prayers.
Thanks for coming. It really helped. I don't think people from Seattle hate rain so much as that they resent not getting the warm and sunny weather they expect for a couple of months in the Summer and Fall, and apparently this has been a cold and rainy Summer by their standards. You pretty much nailed the stuck in the 90's and grunge forever feel, though. It's probably different in the techie suburbs, but urban Seattle is more lumberjack/Steinbeck/Jack London in feel than hip, healthy, outdoor environmentalist. More like Wal-Mart camping department than REI. More like drive through liquor store than wine and cheese shop. Clearly the people that fed the Starbucks craze only work in downtown and flee at night.
I'v been in a "blogger-slump" lately and missed reading your blog. Once again, I am amazed at your cleverness (maybe not a word). I just love reading your thoughts. You are hilarious!XO
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