It’s been a long couple of days. I got sick.

Sick again.

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been but I got sick. It wasn’t the snot running coughing fever filled cold that one would be familiar with but the whole body shut down tired and fatigue one that I have been plagued with quite often.

I know that it isn’t that my body is giving up on me with all of the active non-active things that I do, but that it was just a genuine cold. Maybe it was from Dan or maybe it was from Enzo, I’m not sure, but it did come on Thursday and I took half a day.

I went home and slept. Friday, I took the day off still feeling a little tired.

But who would have that Relish would have more severe problems than I would.

I’ve had her for almost 2.75 years now and she never had any health issues. She was a model cat, bitchy and bossy and cuddly when she wants.

But on Tuesday night she had an episode. I’m calling it an episode because I really don’t know what it is.

She started to throw up out of nowhere. She threw up everything in her stomach and then onto the bile. By the time we gone to bed, she was better. No more vomit, but she seems to be coughing or trying to hack something up.

Relish was a little lethargic and I hoped that a little rest would help her out.

By Wednesday night, I noticed that she was breathing heavily or breathing in a way that I never say before. He whole body was contracting with each breathe. She’s breathing with her whole body, which I’d never seen before.

I thought it was the heat from the apartment. There’s been a heat wave and the humidity was ridiculous. Thursday rolled around and it was the same thing.

I decided to take her to the vet on Friday, which I took a sick day for my ickiness.

The vet was worried about her breathing. After tests and x-rays, it seems that she has acute asthma. It was just sudden.

I was worried that it might be her chewing on the screen, but nothing came up in the x-rays. I don’t know what it is.

After a few hours at the vet on oxygen, she was released to be picked up. I got there around 6 last night and she still seemed to be breathing heavily. By 10pm, I went to the bedroom to check on her and she looked horrible.

Her mouth open. Breathing hard. Stressed. Something definitely wasn’t right with her, so I took her to the emergency room.

I told the attending vet what happened with the vomiting and with what the primary vet told me.

Relish was kept overnight.

From an update this morning, she seems to be doing well on the oxygen and that her temperature went down, thankfully.

I did notice how hot she was.

Sitting in the emergency room last night, alone, waiting for the vet, I was worried. I was sad. I was scared that she might not make it. I thought that if I was so worked up over a cat, what would happen if it was one of my real children (if I’m ever fortunate to have one). Being a parent isn’t easy.

I sympathize with Dan and what he had to go through with Helina. It’s tough. Definitely a scary thing to see your kid go to the hospital.

The vet said that I should be able to pick Relish up later today, early afternoon. I hope that it is over and that the antibiotics help her with whatever is causing her pain. I hope.

* * *

Tahoe and more family.

This past weekend was Maggie’s wedding and I took a few days off before to Tahoe before the wedding festivities in Reno.

Tahoe.

What can I say about it?

It was all right. I took the long scenic route, the CA 14 & 395 to South Lake Tahoe and Heavenly Village. The drive was easy and beautiful, more beautiful and easy than what I remembered from when I went with mom and my bro a few years back.

When I got to Tahoe and checked in, what I didn’t expect was how cold it was in Tahoe, especially at night.

It was fucking cold and I only brought shorts and chinos on this trip. No jeans, which I could have used.

I got there around midafternoon and after I checked in I just wandered and roamed around the area. When I booked the hotel, I didn’t realize how close I was to Heavenly Village, which is like their ski resort town. There were a lot of food options and shops, like a gigantic strip-mall type thing. It wasn’t bad.

There were a few casinos down the way in the Nevada side of Tahoe. I scoped them out looking for good food options. Not much there.

So, I walked to the lake and just chilled there for a bit before I wandered some more and got a beer or two at a bar & grill. I kept the afternoon very very chill.

I had dinner and then later that night I went to a comedy show. I thought was surprised when the comedians that were there weren’t the comedians that were on the digital sign outside of the casino. That was for last week’s comedians.

It was a fun night regardless.

The next day was the day of the hike. I only did one hike in Tahoe and it was the Van Sickle Bi-State Park. It was a simple trail that lead up to a small waterfall and if you continue past the waterfall you’ll end up on the Rim Trail and if you go past that you can head up to the Ridge Lodge. That’s what I did. It was about a 5 mile hike one way.

Easy.

You do get good views of the lake from up on high, but I don’t know, I wasn’t too impressed. Maybe I’ve been on other hikes and the views were much more spectacular. Or maybe it was just an expectation. From my view, the lake was just a body of water off in the distance. Nothing stunning about it.

When I got up to the Ridge Lodge, I found a hotel cafe and got breakfast before I hiked back down. So, from about 7:50-1:30, that was my day of hiking.

I went back to the hotel and just took a nap and then chilled.

Around 3, I headed out and just walked around the town. I walked pretty much all over just trying to find what I should eat for dinner. I’ll Yelp something and go check the menu etc etc. All over the fucking town. What I ended up getting was pizza at a build your own pizza place, a la Blaze. It wasn’t bad I guess. At least it was cheap.

The rest of the night I just chilled in the hotel watching Beat Bobby Flay. I guess in a way I really was just relaxing and trying to prepare myself for the active and social weekend at Reno with family.

Friday.

I didn’t really have concrete plans that day. I didn’t really have any plans actually.

All I know is that I didn’t have to be at Reno until around 6pm, when dinner was going to be and when my bro and mom would show up. They were driving from Seattle.

So, bright and early I checked out because I generally can’t sleep in past a certain time. I got some coffee at Starbucks and decided that I should drive up to Emerald Bay to check it out, since it was a popular attraction at Tahoe.

But the universe thought it was a bad plan for me and many other visitors. The road up to the bay was closed. So, I said fuck it, let’s head toward Reno along the lake and just stop wherever I feel like it.

But to my surprise, there wasn’t anything interesting.

Then Suong messaged the family asking to do lunch if anyone was available. I decided to just go, so I got Dat’s address and headed toward his place. I got there just past 10 in the morning.

I chilled with Kent until Dat came back. We were just talking about the whole situation and then when it was time to go, we all went to get lunch with everyone else.

Let’s fast-forward a few hours to the beginning of the end, the time when the drinking all started.

We’re back at Dat’s place with the cousins and we were packing up his bar since he’s moving back to Fresno and we needed some liquor to pregame. So, there we started our tequila shots. 1800 agave.

That then continued back at hotel.

All this time, I was helping Ly cut down and edit down his officiant speech. It was good to begin with, but a little long and redundant. We pared it down, streamlined it and I thought it was a good one.

So, at the hotel it was shots upon shots upon shots. I only get that was when I just wanted to zone out and to relieve some anxiety. Again, I usually don’t do shots anymore. I’m too fucking old for that shit, but I don’t know, with the kids there, I just felt that it had to be shots.

I usually just sip now, easier, slower, better. But nope, shots.

I had a shit ton of tequila and then we went out to reload and Ly got some Kentucky Bourbon, which was pretty damn good.

I started to sip a lot of Bourbon and then everyone pretty much left to prepare for the dinner that night, getting food and what not. My family wasn’t there yet, so I’m left at the hotel with some strangers and I basically passed out.

It’s just black.

I don’t remember much of anything.

I remember the manicurist getting there and maybe the two girls, or something. Not sure.

But the next thing I know is that Ly put a bowl of rice and beef in my hands telling me to eat and Amy put a plastic bag next to me, afraid that I was going to throw up.

While I was blacked out drunk, my bro arrived and texted me that they had arrived. Yeah, I was shit-faced.

So, I stopped drinking and just went for water and tried to eat stuff.

Let’s just say that I don’t get drunk around family, or this much family. No one had seen me this drunk before. I haven’t been this drunk since a long ass time. But it was a sight to be seen.

I was cursing and I was loud. Yeah, fun times.

I’m sure family had an interesting time seeing me drunk. Not many have seen me that drunk before or know what kind of drunk I am. I don’t think I’m a fun drunk. I just get loud and curse a lot if not a little belligerent, but not that belligerent.

But eventually slowly I sobered up and just had a good talk with Ly, Mikey, and Kellye about Ly’s girl situation. It’s been a while since I had an honest discussion with him about anything. I still remember having these discussions over IM while he was in college.

I just honestly told him how I see the situation.

I’m good at reading people and the situation by piecing together information and I think I read the situation correct. I hope that he heard me. I’m sure he did.

Eventually I got back to their hotel, got some water, and then I just went to bed back at my room.

* * *

Bright and early the next day, like any other day, I got up at 6 or 7. This was three fold. I usually wake up at that time anyway. My bro left to play some golf. Lastly, I slept on the couch and didn’t pull out the bed. It was uncomfortable.

I went out to get some coffee and just to decompress and be alone from the night before ’cause I know that I won’t have much alone time much after that.

The day was simple. Went over to Dat’s place and had some congee with pickled mustard. So fucking good. I miss it. Also, I just chatted with my cousins and that was about it.

Later, we went back to the hotel room where I rested a little bit before we all got ready and left for the wedding.

The wedding was simple and small. It was a nice service outside. Ly did well on his little speech. Definitely not perfect. He didn’t remember most of it and had to read off of his phones plus he was fucking nervous. Words and lines were stumbled, but overall, it was good.

Then, pictures and the party began.

I didn’t drink that night. After the night before, it wasn’t in my cards.

We waited for our table number to be called and got food and when I was done, I was chilling outside for most of the festivities. It was just too crowded in there.

Surprisingly, I didn’t really socialize that much. Not at all. I kept to myself if I can or just people watched.

I chatted a bit with some family here and there, but that’s about it.

There was a time when Ly and I were chatting about how I kept it real and was honest about our discussion the night before. He said I should have been a therapist, but I told him how hard it was and how I went to therapy for a year about my dad and the guilt I felt.

His mind was blown and that it was ridiculous.

It’s good that some family knows.

But, after that, the night was over and we are left with Sunday.

We were scheduled to leave Monday morning, but since everyone was leaving on Sunday, we decided to just leave that day and go to Auntie’s instead.

So, we went to Auntie’s and spent the night.

There, I had the best gift ever in a long ass time. She still had a few unused Mulberry Silk Quilts that she bought in China from our trip back in ’07. She wasn’t using them, so she gave them to my bro and me.

Fucking SCORE!

Score indeed.

I’m just waiting for my cotton duvet cover and then I can decide on what to do with my old one. It still good. It’s a waste to throw it away, but it’s so fucked.

I have decisions to make.

* * *

So, all in all, that is the long weekend and the festivities.

It’s always great to see family and be around family again, but I’m not going to lie, it’s fucking great to back on my own and away from family.