MY LIFE IN EUPHORIA

I've had a great life, but much of it involved stress, pressure, frustration...whatever.  I would surmise that any sense of euphoria dominated my mind for less than 1% of my life, and even that high because of what happened in October of last year.  From potential calamity to quick recovery induced almost continuous euphoria for months, diminished by my trip to France, then to the Orient, which were monumental and certainly memorable, yet taxing and disquieting on occasions.

I'm just returning to normal after that last trip, but things were not too terrific two days ago when I first had to awaken at 5:30AM to get ready to have some blood extraction work at 6AM.  It didn't help that a tablemate at dinner the night before reported that an attempt was made on his arm last week, and the person doing the blood-getting couldn't find his vein.  Apparently, she had spent 20 minutes with the previous patient and also had some trouble.  So with those experiences in mind, and the similar fact that my veins are almost undetectable, I showed up in an advanced state of anxiety.  Thankfully, all went well, three capsules worth.

Then, later that morning I had an appointment to see my new colonoscopy doctor, something I had been avoiding for a dozen years.  I chose to voluntary save the medical plan some money because I dread that gallon of treated water and worry about how my blood pressure would rise if I had to stop eating by noon the previous day.  If a miss lunch and find something to eat at 2:30PM, my blood pressure can zoom up to 175/210.  But more than that, I'm at that stage of my life that I kind of  would rather die than find out I have a serious ailment.

So off I went to see Dr. Lopez, who was reassuring and in good humor.  I mentioned my gallon water problem, and, I'm not sure if she was joking, but she pointed to a bottle on the shelf and said it was only that much.  That container I picked up holds four liters, which by my calculation is equivalent to 1.06 gallons.  Dividing by 12 ounces (one bottle of beer), that's equal to 13.5 bottles.  More than two six-packs.  Or almost 5.5 bottles of wine.

Must be some optical illusion at play, because I would swear that container in her office was half that volume.  I'm tempted to return to her office to check if the pharmacy gave me the wrong-size bottle.  Anyway, those awful moments will come in ten days.

Then I did something stupid.  Throughout my Orient trip I now and then saw Kentucky Fried Chicken, but never went in because of extenuating circumstances.  So after my doctor's appointment I drove up to Popeyes.  Picked up chicken and corn on the cob, with a huge jalapeno, and went to the Diamond Head lookout.  This is a meal you just don't eat in your car.  It is theoretically impossible to consume these items without having some of the crispy exterior and kernals fall, if not jump, to portions of the interior that are impossible to retrieve.  That jalapeno, too, is so spicy hot that one close to dies trying to finish it.  Really bad day.  No euphoria.

However, the view was terrific:

Perhaps that was the  moment that turned my life around, for yesterday I went to Apple to buy a new MacAir or equivalent.  If you remember, I was bedeviled through my Orient trip by my computer which kept running out of memory.  I showed them my venerable device and told them it worked fine, but had no room left, so what was the cost of something to replace it.  The prices ranged up to $1700, plus Office, which they were hinting is unnecessary because Apple has their own equivalent apps for free.

They also checked my computer about the memory problem, and indicated that I had 160 GB of photos stashed, something I thought I had sent to another storage device...but failed to trash correctly.  It took a whole hour to transfer to another external drive and my old MacAir is good again.  Saved $1700+.

I celebrated at Tanaka of Tokyo.  Teppan-yaki of beef and chicken, with garlic fried rice, plus beer and hot sake.  I was the only one at a grill for ten.  I tend to spend more when happy.  Kind of expensive at $53, but I saved $1647 today.

My mind/attitude system rose to a lowish euphoric state.  My only appointment tomorrow is with my foot doctor to cut my toenails, there is a 15 Craigside cocktail party for no particular reason, then poker.  Yes, life is getting good again.

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