First my stepdaughter breaks a tooth and is in a lot of pain. Then her mother talks her (she's agoraphobic and generally phobic) into going to the dentist, because broken tooth extractions are super easy, barely an inconvenience!

Well, no one had reckoned with her giant roots, nor with the fact that the broken tooth was adjacent to an impacted wisdom tooth that was pressing on it. "This tooth is my brother, and I'm not letting it go!"

It took 30 minutes to get the tooth out, and another 30 minutes to dig out all the residual roots. Stitches were required. By the end, she was shellshocked.

In addition to her obviously much greater suffering and my wife having to try to manage the situation and to accompany her, this meant that my week consisted of a lot of "Can you take her? She's going tonight/tomorrow/Monday?" (with constantly postponed appointments bc agoraphobia), "Can you get her meds from the pharmacy?", "She might need to go to the emergency room", and "She thinks she has an infection."

*

Then the plan was for them to stay with my stepdaughter's grandmother for a month or two after they arrive in Brazil, to save money while they look for an apartment. So Murphy's Law dictates that elderly grandmother suddenly gets hospitalized last week, she's going to be in the hospital for a while while they figure out what's going on with her, she will probably need surgery, and she will probably be post-op, with lots of people coming and going and probably staying over, when my wife and stepdaughter arrive in Brazil in 10 days.

So now there's the inconvenience and expense of scrambling to find an Airbnb, and then the pressure to find an apartment as soon as possible after arriving, to cut down on the Airbnb expense.

*

Then, on Saturday, when I was coming home from my 8-mile geology walk, still on the phone with my friend working out living arrangements, I came up the driveway to find my wife on her e-trike heading out to cancel her gym membership (which has to be done in person) and pick up her daughter's meds.

She interrupts me.

"There's something wrong with the bike!"

She pedaled around in the parking lot while I inspected it.

"Yeah, looks like you've got a flat."

Of course this is the first time this has happened, so neither of us has any idea how to change a tire.

So that's why immediately after my hike Saturday, I had to head out again to the pharmacy, while my wife watched YouTube videos on how to change a tire and tube, ordered spare parts, and asked around the neighbors to find out who had a pump we could borrow.

And now I'm going to have to watch the videos she found and learn how to change a tire, because she's completely overwhelmed, struggling with a depression flare-up (guess why!), and "Technically I'm an engineer (software engineer)" (said in the same tone of voice as "Technically, I'm a doctor (PhD in dead languages).") I am a bit more savvy than she is, though I still intensely dislike anything that requires me to work with my hands and pay attention to what I'm doing.

And, of course, we still have to figure out how to sell this bike on short notice.

The one spot of bright light is that she was able to cancel her gym membership over the phone. I'm still skeptical that in a month they'll be like, "What? No, you have to come in person!" but maybe it will work.

Things keep happening so much!

At this rate, I might actually finish this set of posts about the last adventure before the next adventure starts! I think there are only 3 more installments to go, and one doesn't have pictures (converting to a DW-friendly format is the single biggest holdup).

After capturing the elusive dolphins on camera, I took a nap that I badly needed. I had stayed up late on my balcony enjoying the waves in the dark and then woken up early to watch the sunrise and frolicking dolphins from the same balcony.

My friend went off to enjoy the grounds of our fancy Hawaiian ocean resort hotel.





When I texted him that I was awake and ready to go exploring, I got this amazing text back:

Very good! Do you mean here or check out and go elsewhere. I'm hanging out with a mai tai at the saltwater lagoon and almost finished, but can hang longer if you are wanting to walk the grounds.

Remember, our fancy Hawaiian ocean resort hotel came with a private saltwater lagoon and complimentary mai tais! (Because it was 10 am and he had to drive, he got a non-alcoholic one.)

I read this text to my partner later and she laughed at the "mai tai at the saltwater lagoon" part. Luxury!

So we enjoyed the lagoon and the grounds for a bit, then we went for ice cream and hiking.

( Here is the lagoon )

As we were driving along the coast toward the ice cream place, we saw this spot by the coast where the ocean turned this amazingly gorgeous color, which I decided to call cerulean after my favorite crayon as a kid.

( Read more... )

It's that blue streak right along the coast.

My friend and I kind of really wanted to go there, but we had a flight to make and I had already picked out our hiking spot.

So we drove on and got our ice cream at Gypsea Gelato. We sampled several flavors, and the tom kha turned out to be the best. It's a Thai flavor made with ginger, lemongrass, coconut, and turmeric. (Remember, as we established in installment 6, my favorite ice creams are herbal.)

So after we sat on the bench outside the strip mall and finished our samples, we shamelessly went back inside ten minutes later. "We're back! We want more ice cream!"

I got a PINT of tom kha. Considering we had checked out of the hotel and had a flight to make, and we were in Hawaii, known for its warm climate, I had to eat it pretty immediately. That was my lunch. You will hear no complaints from me.

So what we did was we drove along the coast toward the hiking spot I had picked out, while I ate ice cream. As we approached, I realized we were directly opposite the cerulean water.

"Omg, I hope the trail goes all the way to the beach!"

I ate more ice cream in the car (I had a whole pint to finish! and it had been sitting in a freezer, so it was pretty solid and hard to get a plastic spoon into), while my friend started hiking. As noted, I'm a much faster walker than he is, so we knew I would catch up quickly.

After getting about halfway through the pint, I put the rest in the plastic bag, looped the bag over my arm, and started hiking. Every so often, when I got ahead of him, I would stop, take out the ice cream, and eat some more while I waited for him to catch up.

The trail did indeed go to the beach!

( Kiholo Bay )

Then I was leaning down to point to the rock and explain about the lava formation to him, using what little knowledge I managed to acquire and retain about geology last year.

( Look, it used to be lava! )

I pushed away what I thought was a piece of driftwood that was in my way. Then I had to push it again when pointing at something else, and then I realized--

"Omg, it's an animal!"

We both startled in alarm, then realized it was dead. Eventually my friend identified it as an eel, and I said I thought perhaps it had been buried in anoxic conditions and become mummified.

You could see the belly had been ripped open and the dried-up bowels were spilling out--possibly how it died. Being a slight biology geek (not a particularly knowledgeable one, but always on the lookout for cool stuff*), I took half a dozen pictures. Here are two. Caveat viewer if a mummified eel will bother you.

( Really most sincerely dead )

* Except insects/bugs, I have a squick. I wish I didn't, and maybe it will go away someday. It's definitely easing up--I was able to sit through a lengthy work conversation last year about eating cicadas without getting distressed, like at least one of my coworkers did.

For once.

I did an 8+ mile (exact distance not known) geology hike today (okay, my friend called just as I was arriving at the geological phenomena, so I didn't do any geology, but I went to the spots!), followed immediately (10 minute rest stop?) by a 4 mile walk to the pharmacy and back. (ETA: That's 4 total, 2 in each direction.)

There was even a fair bit of scrambling on this hike, although admittedly I went easy on my knees on the worst of it.

My knees held up, my ankles held up, my legs held up, my feet held up! My feet were starting to hurt around 12 miles, but that's expected, and I think maybe somewhat better than last year. My glutes even held up! I've been noticing lately that they haven't been bothering me for short walks, and I hoped that would translate to long walks. And it did!

My legs held up in the sense that they were still moderately sore and tired from the last week of running, and they're sore and tired even just walking around the house, so when I set off, it was kind of slow going at first. But I warmed up, and at the end of 12 miles, they were feeling noticeably stronger than at the beginning. I think I could easily have done 18. Then, after a few hours of rest at home, I went out just now, did a mile+, felt really good and restless, and really wanted to keep going, but it's 10 pm and I shouldn't.

I'm hoping my legs stop being sore this week, I can hit the cemetery hill, and next weekend, I can do a proper long forest walk. There are two nice forests about 6-8 miles respectively from here, that I never get to because the walk there and back is kind of long and boring (4-5 hours in transit), and historically my body has not held up for 12-16 miles of boring walking *plus* forest hiking. It would help a lot if I could get up to doing a 6 mile run, a 2-3 mile forest hike, and a 6 mile run home. That's been one of my running goals, which I've never achieved, because I inevitably get injured once I work up to running 5 miles.

But even without the running, I've been to the closer forest a few times, I know now to bring my spiky massage ball on 13+ mile walks and give my feet rest breaks, I've got a geology podcast for the boring parts (admittedly I cannot listen to a podcast for 4 hours in one day, but it helps a lot), and I think it might be okay at least once in the near future.

Anyway, it's good to know that while I lost all my running stamina, I didn't lose all my walking stamina. The key is to be able to do a 16-mile walk without trouble, and I think I can still do that.

The stretch goal is to work up to 30 miles (with trouble) before moving to LA, and if my feet cooperate, it's still a possibility, when I had been thinking that it wasn't.

Not quite finalized, but I talked with my friend today, and things are looking good!

He's preparing to tell his roommate that he needs to be out by October, and if the roommate haggles, conceding as far as November. But it sounds like a foot may be put down for no later than November.

Either October or November works for me; any later than early December, and it doesn't work financially, weather-wise (driving a U-haul cross country through some dicey weather), or really in terms of spending most of the academic year at UCLA.

October is slightly better for me: if we can do one trip before the October 24-25 conference, then I don't have to fly there, fly back, drive there. We can just drive there. And I don't have to pay for a month's expensive rent here in November. But if the roommate pushes for November, then darn, I guess I'll just have to enjoy another month in my favorite place I've ever lived at the best time of year. :D

Also! When I texted with my friend last week, it was all about how he'd love to do a national parks road trip this year, but he's too busy until October.

When I talked to him today, I used the magic words: "Glacier National Park" and "possible snow and road closures in October," and he was all, "Oooh! Glacier! That's the number one place I want to go! I bet I can make this work in September." See, he had a trip planned to Glacier some years ago, but it got cancelled, and he's still disappointed about that.

So now we're on for circa September 5-September 18: Minneapolis to Glacier to Yellowstone to (maybe) Grand Teton to Crater Lake. And that's enough time to make spontaneous detours if we want.

If all the parks (or any of the parks) are shut down because DOGE, then, we agreed, just driving around the surrounding areas will be gorgeous and fun too! One of our most amazing road trip experiences was post-Yellowstone, just driving through Wyoming, and it was one scenic overlook or geological phenomenon (complete with informative plaque) after another.

So it's all about motivating him properly.

Similarly, last summer, I mentioned to him that my partner and stepdaughter might need to leave the country, and if so I would like to move in with him. He was all, "That would be great, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to kick out my roommate over it."

Then I took him to Hawaii in November, and suddenly when I mentioned living together, he was all, "Yeah! That would be great!" No mention of roommate.

And now he's all, "Yeah, let's do it."

Anyway, I haven't finalized any plans on my end, because he's enough of a pushover that his unwanted roommate may still win this round, but it's looking good! He was brainstorming ways to fit the sofa bed in. ("If it doesn't go through the front door, I bet we could hire someone to lift it over the balcony with ropes and through the sliding doors!") And also "I will help my roommate look for a place to get him out sooner!"

At some point, I will blog about why I want to spend most of the next academic year in LA, but that is a future post. For now, enjoy the knowledge that my nebulous future is solidfying in some pleasing ways.