Archive for the ‘travel’ Category

home stinky home

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

it’s always a bit of a shock, coming from the sweet, clean air of the north woods back to new york. the fact that it’s summer only makes it worse.

we had a wonderful week back home. lots of kayaking (tame compared to what’s coming) among herons and bald eagles and even an otter, lots of unsuccessful dawn fishing trips, lots of amazing meals, lots of hot tubs, lots of naps. we all have certain places that restore our souls, where we find beauty and calm in the midst of chaos. for me, the lake is about as good as it gets. when – not if, when – i get an advance on the upcoming groinstrong graphic novel (!), i may head to the lake to get some writing done. it’s a special place.

sadly i lost a day of vacation to a nasty 24-hour stomach flu – it was sort of like the colonoscopy prep, but in reverse. it’s hard for me to admit that my body is still so fragile, but i have an awful lot of recovery still to come.

and my upcoming surgery won’t help anything. i have a consult on monday and then we’ll get the surgery scheduled. it’s been frustrating to have to wait so long, but i am spoiled by my oncologist and her fast-moving staff. medicine doesn’t always move at the pace we want, especially when the situation isn’t exactly life-threatening.

also: this won’t be the only time i tell you about this, but my buddy jon is running the NYC marathon again this year in my honor. he’s fundraising for the american cancer society – which we all know is a totally awesome and amazing organization. please consider contributing to his goal – i know you are a giving bunch of people! you can donate here. jon has been an incredibly generous friend and supporter since the beginning of this cancerous mess. i just want to try and give something back.

check him out last year – bracelet over the gloves and groinstrong advertised prominently! that’s how to represent.

 

pennsylvania 4th

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

so friends – check out this amazing house where we stayed over the weekend! unfortunately my camera died before i could get all the interior shots i wanted, but you get the picture. so awesome. thanks lila and matty!

mmmmmmmm.

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

this is the sound of settling. twenty of the last thirty days have taken me away from my brooklyn, and my return deserves a nice long mmmmmm. also an ahhhhh.

now don’t get me wrong – i wouldn’t have traded our mini-honeymoon to the west coast for anything. and what a privilege, to be able to celebrate with my family not only my long-awaited remission but also mother’s day and the graduation of my youngest sister from the university of minnesota. i am so proud of her!

Hannah is Groinstrong!

i would have more pictures of graduation, the twins/saints games and chinese banquets… but i lost my camera. oops!

and today it is time for TCB.

i have decided, after thinking long and hard for many months, to quit my job working for my beloved musicians on call. remission is a wonderful word to hear, but my health will be precarious for some time and i didn’t want to hold the company back considering the real potential for my health to derail my work there.

so i’m out on my own. wow. did i really quit a job in this economy? yes, yes, i did.

so, my dear, lovely, generous new york friends: i am officially in job search. today is resumé day. i am working on an exciting new project that will be revealed soon, so i don’t want full-time work at the moment. but if you need a freelance writer/editor, graphic designer, audio engineer, bartender, retail clerk or babysitter, please let me know!

travelin’ in the north country fair

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

i’m just settled back into my routine here in brooklyn, and now it’s time for another trip! i’ll be in st. paul tomorrow to celebrate mother’s day and then my sister’s graduation from the university of minnesota… i’ll be honest, that makes me feel a little old. but dealing with cancer has changed dramatically the way that i feel about aging – turning 30 looked scary from 25, or even 27. now, every year is another year of life, so who cares how old i am?

so to my MSP friends, i’ll see you at church on sunday! please do whatever you can (is there a sun dance?) to make sure it’s nice and warm – i seem to remember a week of may sleet and ice a few years ago and have no interest in revisiting that.

speaking of weather, a special shout-out to friends and family in nashville. looks like some serious flooding down there - hope you’re all safe and dry.

what a trip.

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

i’m still jetlagged, i think. but the scan yesterday knocked me out pretty good too.

there is so much to say about our trip out west. the music was amazing – my top five of the festival were dirty projectors, jonsi (of sigur ros), matt and kim, yo la tengo and the avett brothers, but fever ray, MGMT, jay-z, deerhunter, yeasayer, spoon, and atoms for peace (thom yorke and flea?!?) were also excellent. there were 80,000 people at coachella, crashing local cellular networks and personal neural networks alike: for example, this poor man.

after three days and long nights of music and mayhem, we managed to make it to joshua tree (yes, we listened to U2) and the antelope valley poppy reserve before fighting our way through the snowy, winding roads to yosemite.

yosemite gave us a cloudy striptease, revealing its majestic peaks and snow-covered meadows piece by piece. we were hoping to make it to the top of upper yosemite falls to spread a portion of my grandfather’s ashes, but the snow was so thick on the narrow trail that we stopped halfway up at columbia rock. the views weren’t quite as advertised – by the time we reached the rock, the snow was falling so thick that the valley floor was barely visible, much less the towering granite spires surrounding the valley. but we soldiered on along the valley floor trail, where i looked a coyote in the eyes and watched as the clouds floated in and around the high rock walls around us. i’m grateful we decided at the last minute to upgrade our tent cabin to one with insulation and heating. what a contrast, to go in 24 hours from 95 degrees to 25 degrees.

and now we are home, back in lovely brooklyn, and today is my least favorite day – the day between my scan and receiving the results. this is a big one. if the scan is clean, my doctors will declare me in remission. as i’ve said before, remission from my aggressive and widely metastasized disease is likely not the end of this – although it would obviously be wonderful if that were the case. i’ve spent the day so far worrying and thinking about “life after cancer.” i don’t think for me that there is a life after cancer – there is only a life with cancer.

and the new york times happens to be reflecting on just that topic. check out this powerful photo collage of some of the 12 million (!!!) american cancer survivors.

goin out west!

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

tomorrow (at 6 am, ugh) kathryn and i fly west for the coachella music festival! we’ll also be making stops in joshua tree, yosemite and the bay. i could not be more thrilled!

the lineup this year is pretty stellar – we’re going to have to do some serious stage-hopping!

i’m nervous about being standing around out in the sun all day. but i’m prepared – not only am i totally stocked up on sunscreen, but i also have a note from my doctor (thanks team) explaining my condition and the medical necessity of a sunbrella, my late grandfather’s awesome go-go-gadget cane that converts into a seat, and my many medications which i have to keep on my person.

for those of you in the bay – we’ll be coming into town thursday the 22nd and leaving at dawn on saturday the 24th. we’re planning on being at beckett’s to see the lovely and talented ms. annie bacon and friends. we’ll be staying with annie at the tower on friday evening the 23rd so i hope you can come over for a visit.

when we return, i immediately have a PET/CT scan – this is a big one. i’ll get the results april 28th and will keep you all posted.

i’ll try and get an occasional mobile post but between those, i recommend spending some time perusing the sites of my many blogfriends. they present quite a slice of american life and make for pretty interesting reading!

love to you all! see you in california!

yes. yes. yes. this is going to be awesome.

Friday, March 26th, 2010

FREE KAYAKING IN COLORADO FOR CANCER SURVIVORS!!!

http://www.firstdescents.org/

I AM SO THERE!

YES.

thanks to the cancercare support group for the tip!

i say again, ouch.

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

it’s late sunday evening, or early monday morning. i can’t sleep because my shoulder is bothering me. each breath stretches my skin in excruciating directions. and i have been warned that over the next two or three weeks that it will, along with my growing fatigue, continue to get worse. and i say again, ouch.

what a two or three weeks this will be. i am surrounded by chaos. our house is in utter disarray after a weekend of bedbug extermination. our belongings are heaped in countless trash bags, and each needed item means an intensive search. my pajamas… would i have put them with pants? or with underlayers? or maybe they were gathered up in the furious dash to ready the house for the exterminator’s arrival.  perhaps they will remain hidden until we are able to unpack, if and when all signs of the bugs have disappeared, in two or three weeks.

it’s been so long since i’ve lived out of bags. it is at once liberating and endlessly frustrating, as are most of the times i have lived out of bags. the single, over-stuffed backpack that sustained me through my african travels was my lifeblood. it carried all my worldly possessions: my recording equipment, a few changes of clothes, the occasional precious souvenir. i would lock the zippers closed with combination locks and then lock the bag to some immoveable object – the rod at the back of the luggage compartment of an ancient trans-tanzanian bus, the roof rack of a death-trap minivan, the plumbing in my hotel room. sometimes bags nearby would be even more fiercely protected, wrapped in a metal mesh with its own set of locks, secured with motorcycle-style cobra chains. of course, all my precautions notwithstanding, i was still the victim of a robbery, losing my recording equipment and my irreplaceable journal full of notes and translations and dreams. possessions are indeed fleeting.

so if i don’t return your call this week, or make it to your show, or properly respond to your facebook invite, it is probably because i am lost in a bag somewhere, looking for my pajamas and gingerly applying radiagel to the primal burn on my shoulder.

california here we come

Friday, March 12th, 2010

we fly to the bay today! it’s gray and rainy and a few days of early spring will be good for the soul. i wish the circumstances were better but it will be wonderful to have the family all gathered together to celebrate the life of my grandfather.

i’m a little concerned about the state of my back – it’s better than it was a few days ago but it is by no means healed, and a long cross-country flight will be rough. but i’ll manage. at least i get to fly with my wife. i’m still getting used to saying that!

i found this video a while back and have been meaning to share it. i’ve spent a fair amount of time in hospitals over the last couple years, and by day three or four it gets pretty old. but this poor man has tuberculosis and is stuck in quarantine for weeks. he’s staving off the insanity by making movies. love it!

vacation!

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

i’m off to north carolina in the morning! i can’t wait. it’s odd to think about a christmas away from my family, but luckily kathryn’s family is awesome. and so are the mountains above asheville!

in preparation for the holiday, i finally, after years of living in wintry climes, finally, finally, finally got a good winter jacket. it’s made by spiewak, a brooklyn-based company that since world war one has made uniforms for soldiers, police officers, firepeople and more. click here for an amazing interactive graphic timeline of their history. merry christmas to me! i think i deserve it, don’t you?

i hope you all have a marvelous holiday! thank you as always for your support.

and here is the spiewak pearson duffle. just like paddington bear!

spiewak pearson duffle