On Christmas day Beverly invited me to hang out with her and her father. Despite winds as fast as 50mph on the street and 100mph in the hills our only option was to go to the beach. So, after eating leftovers from the party the night before we headed to Venice beach. We braved the “cold” and winds and were treated to a Pacific Ocean sunset complete with diving pelicans and dolphins (whales? porpoises?…we couldn’t tell).
Afterwards we went to a Japanese karaoke bar that is open 365 days a year. I was surprised by the vast catalog of “my” music available. When pressed to sing I finally burned out everyone’s eardrums with Karma Police and No Surprises. When we got home we ate more food and played card games. I had an allergic reaction to something in the dim-sum. This reaction was analogous to what happened before at California Pizza Kitchen and the sushi place I went to with Victor. The symptoms lasted about 12 hours and unfortunately freaked out everyone at Beverly’s apartment.
It all occurred because I had unknowingly broken one of my rules. I never eat anything that I can’t read an ingredients list for (or ask the chef). In this case I assumed the dim sum was cooked by Beverly as it had come out of her freezer in a non-commercial bag (and she has made them before). I ate two of them before my throat and lips started to feel all prickly. Then I got what I can only describe as …heartburn with a stone in your throat that varied in severity until nearly the next morning.
This must be how the elderly feel – their bodies betraying them. I didn’t want to get sick, I just wanted to eat and have a good time. 99.9% of the time I’m able to control what I eat and it works out fine. I’ve been doing it for short of three decades and I’m still alive. What I really don’t like is how it affects other people, I feel guilty that other people worry about me. Never mind the fact that a man never wants to look “fragile” to his girlfriend.
Over the past two years I’ve trained my lungs to not wheeze. I only get an asthma “attack” (low severity) when I do something very strenuous AND I’m around an allergen (like running a mile through a sea of pollen). In a controlled environment I’ve trained my lungs to be just about as healthy and robust as anyone else’s – and I’m much better than someone who isn’t physically fit. However, one freaking little wrapped up piece of meat and I have no control over what happens in my body. For all the healthy things I try to do (eat a healthy lunch/dinner, work out every day, etc.) – it is the most frustrating thing in the world to be abandoned by my own body that I’ve tried to treat so well. Thus furthering the distance between my mind and body, we have sort of a handshake relationship instead of a wholeness.
and even now my stomach growls again. do I trust him?
