Art of the Odd » Friends http://www.artoftheodd.com "This is my blog, and it is dangerous!" Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:36:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 The Week in Review http://www.artoftheodd.com/the-week-in-review/1021 http://www.artoftheodd.com/the-week-in-review/1021#comments Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:32:37 +0000 ChiaLynn http://www.artoftheodd.com/?p=1021 If you follow both @novysan and I on Twitter, you might have seen these two tweets this week.

First, on Monday:

And then today:

Just talked to my dad. He sounds pretty good for a guy who had his head taken apart earlier this week.
July 2, 2011 8:13 PM via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@ChiaLynn
Chia Evers

So, Monday morning, well before sunrise, NovySan got sick. Really, really sick. Sick like I’ve never seen him sick. I was worried enough to make him go to Urgent Care, and they were worried enough to make him go to the ER – where they stared at him for a couple of hours and finally sent us home. He got two liters of fluid in Urgent Care, two more at the hospital, and still has adhesive residue on his arms and chest from the IVs and EKG.

He was almost back to normal on Tuesday, and sitting next to me working when my phone rang. “Hi, Chia,” said the voice on the other end. “You don’t know me, but I’m a friend of your Dad’s.”

“Oh, shit,” I thought.

If I were to tell you that my Dad is a semi-retired college professor who keeps horses, you might have an image of him, but I can assure you it wouldn’t be correct. If I told you he finished the Tevis Cup, a famously brutal 100-mile horse race, last year, you might come closer. If I told you that NovySan describes him as being made of rebar and beef jerky, you’d come closer still.

And if you’re thinking that what I’m about to describe is a horse-related injury – you’d be right on the nose.

About a month ago, his horse spooked (probably at nothing at all), and he lost his seat. He clonked his head pretty good, but he wearing a helmet and didn’t think too much of it, even when the headaches started later. By the time one of the doctors he rides with brought him in for an exam, his brain had been bleeding for weeks. This was, I’ve been told, a good thing. Had he lost that much blood all at once, he wouldn’t have survived it.

He went in for surgery on Thursday. My brother and a bunch of his friends were at the hospital with him. I was at @voltagecoffee with @omgjulia, who very sweetly converted our impromptu writing date into an all-day distraction mission (and expanded it to include NovySan when he realized his daughter was graduating high school that same day, and he couldn’t be there). Voltage gave way to @muddycharlespub, and then to @CambridgeBrewer, by which time her partner @moss had joined us. As we started dinner, a text came in.

“They are closing up now… all is good.”

I’m so grateful to everyone who helped take care of us this week. We’ve been blessed with very good friends.

And I do not ever need such a dramatic reminder of that, ever, ever again.

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]]> http://www.artoftheodd.com/the-week-in-review/1021/feed 10 NovySan’s Walk-In Drive-In http://www.artoftheodd.com/novysans-walk-in-drive-n/937 http://www.artoftheodd.com/novysans-walk-in-drive-n/937#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:57:21 +0000 ChiaLynn http://www.artoftheodd.com/?p=937 We just finished watching Kelly’s Heroes, which I’d never seen, with a whole gaggle of friends. We (and when I say we, I mean NovySan) hung a screen on the back porch and dragged the projector outside. Will and Nina brough popcorn and beer, Will and Annika brought different popcorn and beer, Ed and Lisa brought hummus and pita chips, Jay brought bourbon, and we made nachos (with horribly wonderful fake orange cheese) and hot dogs.

I wasn’t feeling social this morning, but I had a wonderful time tonight.

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]]> http://www.artoftheodd.com/novysans-walk-in-drive-n/937/feed 1 And so the Saints won the Super Bowl… http://www.artoftheodd.com/and-so-the-saints-won-the-super-bowl/855 http://www.artoftheodd.com/and-so-the-saints-won-the-super-bowl/855#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:28:18 +0000 ChiaLynn http://www.artoftheodd.com/?p=855 On my first trip to New Orleans, in the early ’90s, I sat at the Cafe Du Monde sipping cafe au lait and listening to an old jazz trumpeter accompany himself on “When the Saints Win the Super Bowl” (to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” of course). It was played for humor – the Saints had a decent team at that point (the mighty Wikipedia tells me they made the playoffs in 1990, and won their first division title in 1991), but it was still clear that this man didn’t expect his beloved team to take home the big trophy anytime soon.

I watched the game tonight with a bunch of geeks and bellydancers, at the home of a New Orleans expat, and I kept hearing that old man sing. Wherever he is, I sure hope he saw every play.

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]]> http://www.artoftheodd.com/and-so-the-saints-won-the-super-bowl/855/feed 1 One down… http://www.artoftheodd.com/one-down/827 http://www.artoftheodd.com/one-down/827#comments Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:03:32 +0000 ChiaLynn http://www.artoftheodd.com/?p=827 I’ve been working on this bias-knit scarf – a project stalled first by my need to order nickel-plated tips for my interchangeable needle set (the mohair-acrylic yard I used sticks to the wooden ones as though they were coated in rubber cement), and then by the need to buy two more skeins of the yarn (because the color I’m using comes in skeins half the size of the other colors in the line). My goal, though, was to have it finished in time for one of the holiday parties NovySan and I were attending – and I got it done. Granted, it was still a bit damp from blocking (I handwashed it, then dried it on low heat when I realized it would never air dry in time), and I was weaving in yarn ends this afternoon, on the way to Be the Boy and Slackmistress‘s house, but it was finished!

Mohair Bias Wrap

I do have a couple of projects in mind for the new year, which I’ll fill you in on over the next few days, but for now – may 2010 be better for than 2009, whether 2009 was an excellent year or a terrible one.

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]]> http://www.artoftheodd.com/one-down/827/feed 0 There I go, bein’ spoiled again… http://www.artoftheodd.com/there-i-go-bein-spoiled-again/775 http://www.artoftheodd.com/there-i-go-bein-spoiled-again/775#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:54:31 +0000 ChiaLynn http://www.artoftheodd.com/?p=775 So, we just watched Breathless, which a certain young man I once had a terrible crush on told me reminded him of me. I’m no longer certain that was a compliment. I’ll hope he meant that our affair was romantic and a little dangerous, and not that I was a stupid girl in love with an asshole. (Joshua, if you’re out there – it was Breathless you were talking about?)

But that’s over now, and NovySan’s just made me a vanilla steamer (hot milk and vanilla syrup, and I see he’s added some nutmeg, too). Traci, over at 38 and Growing, introduced me to the vanilla steamer when we worked together in San Francisco, and I’ve gotta tell you guys, it’s like relaxation in a mug.

Especially when someone else makes it for you.

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