Day 251- the end of a short work week

 Today is the 6th day of the 36th week, the 8th day of the 8th month, the 251st day of 2023, and:

• Iguana Awareness Day
• International Literacy Day
• National 401(k) Day - this is a day everyone is encouraged to check and make sure that you know where your accounts from previous employers are located so they are available when you want them   Because I was a bit of a knowledge nomad for a time, I was always very careful to move and consolidate my previous accounts, but I can see where one could lose track
• National Actors Day
• National Ampersand Day
• National Date Nut Bread Day
• National Pledge of Allegiance Day
• Pardon Day - in 1974, President Ford pardoned Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal that caused him to resign  
• Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses' Day
• Stand up to Cancer Day
• Star Trek Day - boldly going since 1966 and the animated series started for years after the original series was axed on this day in 1973
• Virgin Mary Day - a Christian feast day of the Nativity of Mary, also known as the feast days of  Our Lady of Meritxell, Our Lady of Covadonga, and Our Lady of Guadalupe
• World Physical Therapy Day

Quote of the day:
" Space:  The final frontier.  These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.  Its 5-year mission:  To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

~ Captain James Tiberius Kirk: Opening Narrative on the Voyages of the Starship, Enterprise

NOTE:  21 years later, the opening monologue would be altered for Star Trek: The Next Generation, [and finally uttered at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country by Kirk] from "no man" to the species and gender inclusive "no one".   [obviously this was before being 'woke' was a pejorative or no doubt there would've been much hand-wringing over that alternation]

In my high school classes, there was a boy that I talked to now and then, who irritated me by stating that he was a Duke and demanded I treat with with some degree of deference.  I snapped back at him that I was a Martian and wasn't bound by such earthly conventions,  and he took a couple of days to craft the comeback that he was an Alpha Centurion, thus proving his superiority, and we started inventing preposterous back stories to explain how we came to be on earth and at Overlea.  I have vivid memories of watching that first TOS show, affectionately dubbed by the fans of the day as "the great salt monster" [everyone was worried that this sci fi show would degenerate into the BEM of the week trope so common back then].   That Friday morning, we both sought each other out and immediately started discussing how our civilizations were part of the Federation, of course.  Unlike the graduates portrayed in Grease,  I never thought my high school acquaintances would always be a part of my life, and so it has been for me at least.  When we graduated, he announced he was returning to his home, and indeed, I have never heard of him again and have no idea what happened to him after high school.  I've tried googling his name, as I have done with a couple others that I would like to know how their life journey went, and even joined the click-bait Classmates website for a time, to no avail.     I wonder if he played D&D, if he is still an avid reader of science fiction, if he ever discovered Second Life.  We were only friendly, not even friends, but wherever he wanders, I wonder if he too remembers at times

This morning, Bing provided a lovely desktop picture of a townhouse community in Bath, Somerset, England, pointing out that a 10-day Jane Austin festival is held there annually as a nod to International Literacy Day.  

But what I see is a traffic circle.  I hate traffic circles.  DC is rife with them - there is one particular one that is as large as this one, and I [like many other occasional drivers in the city] got myself trapped in that inner lane, unable to get out as the cars whizzed by.  There have been multiple stories of the police having to actually stop all traffic and rescue stranded motorists so they won' keep going around and around in an endless loop.  Merging onto the circle can be a frightening experience as well

The one and only fender bender I have ever had where I was at fault was due to misunderstanding the lane markings, so I am convinced they really are not safer for drivers than intersections.  That accident, for which the police refused to give me a ticket because the car who was dented by my side mirror, was weaving in and out of traffic, cost the insurance company $1,250 for repairs.  And State Farm used the incident and my age, as an excuse to jerk up my auto insurance rates so high [22% for three years running] that I finally left them after having been with them since I started driving. 

When folks talk about "standing up to" cancer, I have ambivalent feelings, but very strong opinions  And after the toll cancer has taken and is taking of my family, I am rather ....  militant?  adamant?  certain?   I understand that one must fight cancer - donating and supporting research in the abstract sense, functioning as a caregiver if needed, taking treatments if one is diagnosed with it.   But, as with everything, one must count the cost, must ask the question:  How long do I have with chemo radiation, surgery et al?  How long do I have without them?  And then, after having seen the the permanent and irrevocable price treatments can exact on patient and family, not just once, but ongoing, I very much understand and respect the person who decides that they will not "fight" but will enjoy the balance of their life.  There is no shame in that.

As always happens when we have a day off, especially at the end of the month, this short work week has seemed very long and Friday is very welcome indeed.  Yesterday's visit with the nurse practitioner yielded no great insights, but I ended up with a tetanus booster [the kind you have to get every ten years] so I am dragging myself into the weekend, very grateful that I don't have to go into the office today.