Random Thoughts

 Well, that's over!  YIPEE.

Here are some random things in my little world.

New Year's Eve. -

I was unaware of most things last year in the throes of chemo and the like.

But this year I was well aware of the "ball" drop.

Now we all know the beautiful Tiffany crystal ball that drops in Times Square NY each year. 

But this year I've seen a few others that made me chuckle.

In Raleigh, they drop a big ole Acorn. 

I asked Rick, is this because it is called the City of Oaks and the acorn falls from the Oak Tree? He assumed as much. 

We live about 1 hr from Mt. Olive, NC. 

You know Mt. Olive, the folks that bring you pickles and the like.

Well, they drop a Pickle. 

We saw it on the local news and thought it was cute. 

Looked like a big ole green dill pickle.

Then Rick received an email from his hometown.

They drop a Clay Works Paver. Ouch, if that falls on someone.

Seriously I don't know what they use for the paver but it looks like a brick that drops.

His small hometown made bricks and clay things, Patton Clay Works. 

They are the pavers/bricks I'm told around the Eiffel Tower for example. Their bricks are in a lot of famous locations and yet it is from a town of less than 1800 people. Kind of cool.

All of them were only seen by us on the next day.

Once again we were out like a light before midnight.

Oh, I awoke at 2am as normal and was awake for the rest of the day but at midnight - I saw nothing!  Did you?

We did go to dinner. Rick ordered a piece of Peanut Butter Pie to go and we left without getting it or remembering to ask. When we looked at the bill later we saw we were not charged for my 2nd glass of wine but we were charged for the Pie. So it all evens out in the end. 

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Because we have DishNetwork it automatically DVR's everything on the 4 stations of prime time for you to watch later if you want to. (NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox) So we don't need to watch those channels if we see something else on elsewhere- they are automatically recorded and put into a folder all their own.

Last night we wanted to view the M*A*S*H special. 

We both loved this show. We had to laugh when Klinger was in his dresses and ensembles trying desperately to get a section 8. I said to Rick, that wouldn't fly today, 1. it would offend someone and 2. the GOP would have a hissy fit that a man was dressing like a woman on tv, the kids can't see that!

But we also wanted to see the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Inductees that was on opposite M*A*S*H.

So this afternoon just before dinner time Rick watched the so-called Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame 2023 Inductees.

First of all, it was an edited-down version. When it was on HBO it was not. So I was concerned about that. I mean, these rockers' speeches generally have some profanity so would these all be bleeped out? But they are also generally funny and we enjoy them. But not if edited we thought.

Then we saw who was on. No Rock 'n Roll to be had. 

Oh, Jimmy Page played a guitar solo for an inductee who has passed. Other than that it was Rap, R&B, Pop, and some country singers. 

Rock n Roll? Not a single rock n roller in the crowd. 

We mostly FF through it and we were done in less than 10 minutes. 

Why call it the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame? 

Why not the Music Hall of Fame?  

You don't see football players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Rock is primarily dead these days so there is that. But I think they need to change the name. It's not rock n roll at all.  I mean I like the Spinners but Rock n Roll? Cheryl Crow? Willie Nelson? What the heck is this? 

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And lastly, we began our year 2024 at the doctor's office because that is our new life now.  Rick saw an ENT. He has a lot of issues with choking and swallowing pills etc. His voice is nasally and unlike his previous voice.

There is a small portion of his face that is still numb and he has concern regarding the nasal sound of his voice now. 

Well, it appears that his soft palate is been affected by the stroke making it swollen. When he swallows it makes it clench up and he coughs and chokes a bit. It is still numb as well, causing him a lot of grief.

The nerve damage from the stroke continues to affect his left side, the sound of this voice, etc. But nothing was wrong otherwise, which was good news for a change. 

The doctor did state that they see this a great deal and it normally takes 1 to 1.5 years to come back if it does at all. But more often than not, it comes back. We are counting on it coming back. It seems like it's been a year already to us but it's not been but 8 months. Long enough when you are living through it Rick said. I feel the same way.

We are also going to try acupuncture now that we know a lot of what is going on with this numbness etc. on his left side. We wanted to wait until we had the facts on all of these ENT tests etc.

But until we get the melanoma results back we are just holding our breath and not moving forward with other things.

So that's the top of 2024 from this neck of the woods.

Hope you all had a fine New Year's Day!