An amazing day!

I don't usually post on consecutive days, but today has been pretty amazing. I think I may be experiencing another ondansetron high for the first time in a while; I'll take it!

Actually I have to start with yesterday evening. Wendy's enchiladas were the best ever and I ate two of them, plus more of the Italian cake. It's been quite a while since I've had that much of an appetite, which is great in itself. Plus Kaia was at her absolute cutest, all enthusiastic about helping Wendy in the kitchen and serving us all. She would put the sour cream on the table saying "This is sour cream to put on your enchiladas", then the same with the avocados and finally the plate of enchiladas "this is for grandpa" etc. As they were leaving grandpa pulled the old garbage trick to help out the parents; they still find it quite a treat to help me take the garbage down the stairs. Every time Finley insists on carrying the "green bag" (compost), and every time he seems quite disturbed that the green bag doesn't go in the green can. Sorry Finley, it goes in the gray one!

Today it's been another beautiful, bizarrely warm day. Don't mean to rub it in for those of you who either (a) live in Boston or (b) are trying to get to New York (hi Abby!) but I've been walking around outside in just a t-shirt. Well, pants too. My class went especially well. I was a bit bugged because I had to go down to the med center again. The Picc problem is pretty bad; my arm looks like
weasels ripped my flesh. (Trivia quiz: the weasel reference is to an album c. 1970. Can you name the group? Can you describe the album cover? No internet cheating!)  But the walk through campus was so beautiful, who cares? And it's always fun to see Sarah, who before even looking at my arm gushed enthusiastically about Seattle Opera's next season, wondering what operas she should go to. Well, Marriage of Figaro is obviously a must-see. I asked if she'd seen the Shawshank Redemption, pointing out that the beautiful duet what's-his-name plays over the prison loudspeakers is from Figaro. She had, a really lit up at that. Plus the Pearl Fishers is also mandatory, with its famous beautiful male duet among other things. I think I've got her convinced that I'm a real opera expert.

We're trying a new approach that I hope will work. But the main thing is that paradoxically I feel fantastic today. My mathematical brain is humming along at a brisk pace (local cohomology, where have you been all my life? How could I not be aware of the connections to group cohomology? Fabulous stuff, that I'm working on with James my second student.) Walking back to the math dept I found myself spontaneously singing a different James, Mr. Brown, even though I've never been a Motown fan: "I feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel good!! I knew that I would now..."

So I have renewed hope: one more nasty weekend of cisplatin, and I should be home free.

Meanwhile tonight, more enchiladas and a West Wing evening! Only five episodes left and we'll have finished all seven seasons. It'll be kind of sad, ending it.

Ciao a tutti, i belli e i brutti! (a standard and amusing Italian expression "hello/goodbye to all, the beautiful and the ugly" that rhymes in Italian)