Birthday Week
Posted by Al Pastor
My mother and sister flew in from Jersey for my birthday. We had a fine time, until we were on the way to the airport and I made an offhanded comment about the stem cell research development/land grab. This precipitated an argument with my politico sister and my party-line mother in which I never could get them to understand that I was not "against" the research itself, but that there is a Mengele/Frankenstein angle to it for me, and I am always skeptical of a technological panacea. Then there is the money/funding angle, and the state influence concerns and just a whole lot of other things that give me pause. But this does not mean that I am "against" fetal stem cell research. I do not think it should be banned and it has nothing to do with the fetuses or abortion rights for me. But this was lost on them, so the best visit I have had with my family maybe ever, went sour right at the end. Then the had a horrible airport/airline exeperience on a red-eye back to Philly. I try not to give advice, but here is something I have learned: ALWAYS FLY NON-STOP, AND ALWAYS FLY INTO AND OUT OF OAKLAND.
!
Otherwise, I turned 40 with a minimum of trauma, besides the knowlege that there was no way I was going to be able to bribe the waitress at the House of Prime Rib (HOPR) out of making the room sing to me. The prime rib was good, though, and the creamed spinach was a work of art. Thursday, the day after my birthday, we went to a game preserve in Sonoma and looked at some Afrcan antelopes and slept in a tent, then drove back Friday through the wine country, Vallejo, and finally Emmeryville and West O (past my beloved Oaks Club) to beat the traffic on 80 through Berkeley.
So far, I have left the anxiety on the other side, but I am sure it will catch up to me. I will try to enjoy the weightlessness until it does. My sister kept saying that 40 is the new 21, which I hope is not true.
!
The weekend was very exciting. I went to the cardroom after laying out all week, and we hit a jackpot. One guy won $7500, one guy won $3750, and everybody else at the table won $466. Happy fucking birthday!
I didn't play long after that. Sunday, I went with Chicken'n'Waffles to the Napa Town & Country Fair (after NEVER having been to Napa/Sonoma, I have driven up there 3 times in the last week) to see Dutch Holland Racing's Demolition Derby, which turned out to be 3 heats, plus a consolation heat and a main event amounting to nearly four hour of defening engine noise and cathartic destruction.
My mother and sister flew in from Jersey for my birthday. We had a fine time, until we were on the way to the airport and I made an offhanded comment about the stem cell research development/land grab. This precipitated an argument with my politico sister and my party-line mother in which I never could get them to understand that I was not "against" the research itself, but that there is a Mengele/Frankenstein angle to it for me, and I am always skeptical of a technological panacea. Then there is the money/funding angle, and the state influence concerns and just a whole lot of other things that give me pause. But this does not mean that I am "against" fetal stem cell research. I do not think it should be banned and it has nothing to do with the fetuses or abortion rights for me. But this was lost on them, so the best visit I have had with my family maybe ever, went sour right at the end. Then the had a horrible airport/airline exeperience on a red-eye back to Philly. I try not to give advice, but here is something I have learned: ALWAYS FLY NON-STOP, AND ALWAYS FLY INTO AND OUT OF OAKLAND.
!
Otherwise, I turned 40 with a minimum of trauma, besides the knowlege that there was no way I was going to be able to bribe the waitress at the House of Prime Rib (HOPR) out of making the room sing to me. The prime rib was good, though, and the creamed spinach was a work of art. Thursday, the day after my birthday, we went to a game preserve in Sonoma and looked at some Afrcan antelopes and slept in a tent, then drove back Friday through the wine country, Vallejo, and finally Emmeryville and West O (past my beloved Oaks Club) to beat the traffic on 80 through Berkeley.
So far, I have left the anxiety on the other side, but I am sure it will catch up to me. I will try to enjoy the weightlessness until it does. My sister kept saying that 40 is the new 21, which I hope is not true.
!
The weekend was very exciting. I went to the cardroom after laying out all week, and we hit a jackpot. One guy won $7500, one guy won $3750, and everybody else at the table won $466. Happy fucking birthday!
I didn't play long after that. Sunday, I went with Chicken'n'Waffles to the Napa Town & Country Fair (after NEVER having been to Napa/Sonoma, I have driven up there 3 times in the last week) to see Dutch Holland Racing's Demolition Derby, which turned out to be 3 heats, plus a consolation heat and a main event amounting to nearly four hour of defening engine noise and cathartic destruction.
2 Comments:
Pump up the jams for the Gambling Poet. Many congratulations to the great man!
Pump up the jams for the Gambling Poet. Many congratulations to the great man!
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