We spent our anniversary and Mother’s Day relaxing at home exploring the Altus Plateau.  Melody was not keen on revisiting Napa. So after dinner with my friend Yao and a visit to Communicare to discuss collaborations, I drove solo to our department symposium at our usual hotel in wine country. Our new case discussion panel was well received, which we celebrated over lunch with fellows at Hog Island Oyster. Unfortunately, my afternoon plan with Kareem to visit the Petrified Forest was foiled by a private event, but gave me us chance to catch up about life and career over ping pong and darts before dinner with the invited speaker at Tarla. Last week, we celebrated my Public Service Award at the Academic Senate presentation, as well as my student Sophie getting into an MD-PhD program. I also took advantage of my early finish in the OR on Thursday to watch John Wick Chapter 4 in the theater. The stunts and choreography were incredible as expected, and motivated me to promptly rewatch it again with Melody back home. Our Memorial Day weekend was fire – literally – when our barbeque brunch with the Dea’s was interrupted by a grease fire that necessitated our second fire extinguisher discharge. We shared the sizzling story with our in-laws on Sunday and my work friends over dim sum on Monday, as I prepared to do some serious cleaning of our poor grill.

Between pruning, weeding, and replacing plants, springtime spells the return of allergy season, but at least provided warm weather to enjoy our neighborhood. Earlier this month, Westley joined his first Easter egg hunts at the local park and church in between batting pinatas at his friends’ birthday parties at Pioneer park. We also did some spring cleaning with our windows washed, car detailed, and outdoor counter sealed. By the time I was boarding my flight to New Orleans for ARVO, I was too tired to be productive, and instead binge-watched all of Netflix’s Beef. I was impressed not only by Allie Wong’s acting and Steven Yeun’s singing, but also the traumedy’s delicate blend of emotions and dark humor. My conference trip was short, sweet, and efficient. With the exception of my first night’s mediocre Cajun dinner with my lab and ex-post-doc, my subsequent meals were hits – including fresh gulf oysters at Peche, fried oysters at Herbsaint, and oyster po’boy at Felix’s. I also made a solo run for Cafe du Monde beignets on the way to cheer on my two students at their talks before my flight home. Sadly, my whole family fell sick shortly after my return, and despite initially testing negative for COVID, turned out to be the real thing. We quarantined at home for the remainder of the week over seaweed soup, bun rieu, hot pot, and ramen kits from Tokyo. I even made a solo grocery run to 99 Ranch to stock up for our continuing journey through the Lands Between, as we await with excitement our next video game adventure.