the familiar bite

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

BEEP.

He stirs and hits the button to silence the alarm without opening his eyes.  Struggling against the covers he manages to heave his body into a sitting position.  His hands rub his eyes with a vengeance and they are finally able to open and blink against the darkness of the room.  Another day.

Reaching to his nightstand he grabs the glass of water and pill container.  Pop.  Pop.  Glug.  Glug.  He shudders as the familiar bite slides down his throat.  Then he pushes himself to his feet and shuffles into his day.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

RING.

Opening bell, the market is open.  His eyes scan the numbers.  Green is good.  Red is bad.  His mind takes it all in and processes the calculations and possibilities, all fueled by the morning dose of meds.  But, he can feel them wearing off.  The scrolling symbols and values are starting to blur.  The day has just started.

He lets his vision slide away from the screen long enough to assist his hand in locating the bottle of water stored next to the keyboard while his other hand opens the top drawer and pulls out the pill container.  Pop.  Pop.  Glug.  Glug.  He shudders as the familiar bite slides down his throat.  His eyes snap back to the stock board and he rises into action, calling out orders, changing the world.

Honk.

Honk.

Honk.

HONK.

He would love to move, to oblige the car behind him and carry on through the intersection, but there is no place for him to go, just as there is no place for the car in front of him to go either.  Rush hour.  Everyone flooding the streets to race home to their families, their dinners, their televisions, their vices.  He considers replying to the horn with a hand gesture, but the throbbing in his head changes his mind.

His scan from rearview mirror to windshield to the bottle of water on his passenger seat and he grabs it and then pops open the glove box and removes the pill container with familiar ease.  Pop.  Pop.  Glug.  Glug.  He shudders as the familiar bite slides down his throat.  The red light changes to green and he slowly removes the pressure on the brake so his car can gently resume his homeward bound progress.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

BEEP.

He yanks open the microwave door and carefully removes his steaming dinner, beef stroganoff.  He pokes at the contents of the plastic tray as he makes his way to his couch and the small table he has set up there.  Taking in a forkful he frowns as the bland and slimy noodles dance across his tongue.  His dinner is boring.  His life is boring and he aches for so much more.

He isn’t even really watching the TV so he doesn’t miss anything as he reaches between the couch cushions and pulls out the pill container he keeps there and then grabs the water glass from the table in front of him.  Pop.  Pop.  Glug.  Glug.  He shudders as the familiar bite slides down his throat.  Then the room swirls around him as he brings a close to another day.

Image Credit: LedyCap

 

 

An Evening with a Dinosaur and an Artist

Yesterday, the Queen and I (and the Little prince) hosted Rara and Dave (the dynamic duo of Queen Creative) in our humble abode.

We ate some delicious food prepared by the Queen.  (She’s just the best Queen a Jester could ever hope for.)

We laughed at the antics of the Little Prince who was on his very best behavior.  (It’s amazing how happily he played and babbled to himself while we ate and talked.  Every once in awhile he’d squeak at us so we’d all look at him, then he’d smile and giggle and go back to what he was doing before he grabbed our attention.)

We bemoaned the skittishness and silliness of our kitties who never bothered to wander downstairs and say hello.  (They are normally very social with other animal lovers, but the most we saw of either of them was Belle’s face peering around the corner at the top of the stairs before she hid herself away again.  Sara and Belle reappeared, as if by magic, within minutes of Rara and Dave’s departure.  Very silly kitties indeed.)

We talked blogs.  We talked families.  We talked publishing.  We talked food.  We talked about the general lack of midwifery services in California (and the US in general) as compared to the rest of the world.  We talked art galleries.  We talked children.  We talked movies, authors, comic books, silliness, randomness, awesomesauceness, and so many other things I can’t remember.  (Rara could though, her mind is a steel trap.)  We swapped stories, and ideas, and laughs.

They have a vast array of knowledge and experience in a plethora of subjects – well traveled, educated, and always searching for new things to learn and master.  Rara is as friendly (and talkative) in person as her words portray her to be.  Dave was quick to smile and add his insights.  The Queen and I were in awe of all they have done.

Round and round we went. All too soon the night slipped away and it was time for them to hit the road.  While later than the Queen and I would have normally stayed up, it was time well spent.  The conversations were a great trade off for the sleep I was missing and it was a trade I wouldn’t hesitate to make again.

Thank you, Rara and Dave, for driving up the coast to have dinner with my family.  Thank you for the wonderful evening, for all the great ideas and insights and suggestions.  The Queen and I definitely got the better end of this deal – we didn’t have to drive, and I’m sure we got far more out of what you were saying than what we were contributing.  You two are truly wonderful people.

Dave, Rara and Matticus.

Update: Check out Rara’s related post: A Royally Wonderful Night

That’s a tasty award

C.K. Hope nominated me for… well, it was more of an open invitation to pick an award out of the several up for offer, but how could I pass up on getting to write about these delicious looking sweets… the Super Sweet Blogging Award!

I’m not sure if these are the actual rules that go with this award, but it’s what we are using today regardless:

1-Answer the 10 random questions or those of your own choosing.
2-Nominate 10 other bloggers for the Award and link their blog sites.
3-Notify the bloggers of their awards.
4-Ask the award winners to answer the 10 questions when they accept their Award.

Here are the questions that C.K. asked:
1-Do you have a goal in life?  It’s pretty simple… be a good person and have fun.  As long as I’m striving towards that I can’t really go wrong.
2-City or Countryside? Mountains?  Does that count as “countryside?”  If I could live in the mountains I would…
3-What was the last word you looked up in the dictionary?  Antidisestablishmentarianism – which I looked up just now specifically because according to Wikipedia it is the longest word to appear in a dictionary that isn’t disputed for technical or coined reasons.  And yes, I was trying to find the longest word, so this whole answer is completely staged.
4-If you had a time machine where would you go? … nowhere.  But I would rent it out for others to use, for a small fee, of course.  I thought about this for awhile – and no matter what time I could pick there would be positives and negatives about visiting that time/place and the risk of not being able to return to here/now would be too great.
5-Pirate or Vampire? “Hello.  Pirate.”  I rarely cheat.  Honestly.  But I do tend to think that “rules” are more guidelines than anything else. 
6-Are you easily satisfied or do you keep working to obtain something? Easily satisfied, mellow, go with the flow…
7-Sweet or Savoury? Sweet!  (Dude?)
8-Do you believe in Karma? Of course.
9-Which is your favorite Comedy film? Monty Python’s Spaceballs in Tights Married an Axe Murderer Holy Grail – Best.  Film.  Ever.
10-Fantasy or Sci-fi? – Fantasy.  I’d take sorcery over stun guns any day.

Look out!  You’ve been nominated:
1.  Kim
2.  UndercoverL
3.  Fibot
4.  Wiley
5.  Beth
6.  Jackie
7.  Ritu KT
8.  Mary-Ann
9.  dmauldin
10.  Zeinab

And, if you wouldn’t mind, could you please answer me these questions ten:
1.  Do you think it’s weird that the Breakfast Club ate lunch rather than breakfast?
2.  If you had Breakfast at Tiffany’s would you order the eggs or the diamonds?
3.  Have you watched the movie Layercake?  Thoughts on that experience?
4.  If you boarded the Pineapple Express, which stop would you get off at?
5.  Do you prefer American Pie over pies from other countries?  What is your favorite?
6.  If the forecast for the day was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, would you stay inside?
7.  Do you slather Space Jam on your toast in the mornings?  Or do you prefer something else?
8.  Have you ever had to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
9.  Do you drink a glass of warm Milk before bed?
10.  Have you ever had a Chicken Run away from you before?

a super meal

What’s a Super Bowl Sunday without a little grilling?  Well, it wouldn’t be very super, that’s for sure.

Here’s what I started with:

4 ounce Sirloins rubbed down:

A little sea salt and pepper on fresh asparagus:

Threw them on the grill:

And then dug in:

The verdict:  yum-tacular!