MJ and I went to Seattle this past weekend and were instantly greeted with a naked man on Pike Street right next to Public Market.....not the most pleasant of sights, but overall it was a great place to be to hide away from Hurricane Hilary that affected all of SoCal: I could definitely see the allure of living in Seattle in the summer: Pacific Northwest winds to hold down temperatures to reasonable room temperature, possible whale sightings, excellent outdoor scenery (with wow! Green trees and shrubbery everywhere), long days that seem to go on forever, easy access to Canada (many relatives of the wedding couple whose wedding we attended came frmo across the border using 2 ferries), no sign of rain anywhere, at least this weekend.
I was really worried about my bladder before the weekend, as I just turned 36, who knows what kind of things are deterioraring in my body, if like my dad I'll soon have to scout out a bathroom everywhere I go, if I'm constantly going to be living with a nagging urge to pee. This was what was happening for a full week at home, wake up to go to the bathroom and then having to go every hour or 2, getting up in the middle of the night to pee (not normal for me and causing me not to get a good night's sleep), which triggers memories of watching movies where old people joke about having to get up in night due to their bladders shrinking or having hyperactive bladders. I even googled what was the "normal amount of times to pee in a day." (turns out it's about 6-7 times in a 24-hour period). That's actually kind of high for me (if you don't count also doing No. 2) in a normal situation, but last week it was well over that number like around 9-10. Alarming. Fortunately, I realized over the long weekend of walking, moving around, and new scenery in Seattle, I realized that my bladder performs much better if I get up and move around during the day. I guess since the pandemic started I've just been waking up, sitting at home on my laptop, and not going anywhere, so my bladder's just sitting there not being worked like a muscle, and all it wants to do is work. That's why when I'm working at home I can't go much more than an hour and a half without getting up to go, but on a long cross-country flight I can hold it for the duration and not need to pee even once (I've even went international flights over 10 hours without using the restroom). As long as I get up and move around, take a walk, bladder starts to "activate" and I forget about peeing. I know, it's weird, I looked it up and it's not really documented in medical science. (I did find, though, that contradictory to common sense, drinking more water actually helps the bladder and the urge to pee because it expands the bladder and forces it to work, so you don't have to pee as often). So if anyone has that unbearable feeling of needing to use the bathroom more and more, Dr. Bobby prescribes: EXERCISE!
One of the underrated things I do at a wedding is meeting new people and talking to them. It's unlike most social situations like seeing someone in an elevator: you're not sure if you should start a conversation, you don't know the other person or know what to talk about, either party might be in a bad mood, etc. At a wedding, though, there's free drinks flowing so everyone is happy, everyone is in a mood to celebrate the occasion of a couple getting married, and the easy icebreaker question to start a conversation: "so how do you know the couple?" Turns out the new people we met at the wedding this time were the bride's dad (had a lot of stories about the 1970's and a "free life" during that time), bride's mom who ran a bed and breakfast, bride's uncles.... a very animated family who had no problems talking about everything especially after a few drinks. I'm also at my best when I'm allowed to talk about anything and engage in free-form conversation, and a few drinks (although not necessary) never hurts. And of course being just a guest at a wedding and not having any special roles takes all the pressure off.
One more thing about Seattle: I'm quickly becoming a big fan of the Chihuly Glass Garden. Situated right under the Space Needle (aka the 400-day miracle for having been built in 400 days), it's got some incredible displays by the glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Just don't bring the kids if they're the ones to touch colorful objects (we saw a child and her parents being escorted out).
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