This tree saw my drive past on the expressway, in the direction of a newly snow-covered Harris Peak.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 6hr]
Day: October 6, 2021
Caveat: A weird post-cancer milestone
This morning, there was a lot of ice on the windshield of the car, which needed to be scraped off before I could proceed down the Port Saint Nicholas Expressway to work.
I reached for my oft-used but utterly improvisational ice-scraper, which sits in the center console of the car. My ice-scraper: my Korean National Cancer Center ID card.
Unfortunately, it snapped.
You might think it’s weird that I have used this as my ice-scraper for 3 years. But I have. It’s because shortly after arriving here, when I was first confronted with some ice on the windshield, I’d gone to use the one that Arthur had in the car, only to find it didn’t work well at all.
So I thought: oh, well, a credit card type object works well. I’d reached in my wallet, pulled that ID card out, and continued, to myself: Well, I’m not going to be needing this, anymore, right?
So it became my windshield ice-scraper. And lasted for 3 years of heavy use, stored in the center console of the Chevy Tahoe.
Anyway, that ID card served me well for 5 years in helping me clear bureaucratic hurdles at the cancer center, during my many visits from my first check-in in June, 2013 until my last CT and MRI scan prior to departure in July, 2018. Counting the radiation period and the “bone necrosis / dental disaster” period, probably it served for 50+ visits, total. And then it served me for 3 more years as a sturdy and reliable ice scraper. And now it shall retire.
Caveat: Poem #1893 “My life’s plan”
ㅁ Up until now I have been... existing - just persisting. So but then, I'll do the same - up through when?
– an englyn penfyr.