Day 162, Sunday, July 7th, 2013

The Fourth of July has come and gone, and, directly supporting my hypothesis regarding the fireworks budget of the Greater Seattle Area (pushing it from hypothesis to evidence-supported, peer-reviewed, bonafide theory)­_­, the show from Lake Union was both elaborate and extensive, easily the best fireworks cannonade that I've had the pleasure to witness, though I must confess that when it comes to fireworks and their gradients of relative impressivity, I am, though nominally untrammeled, an unschooled bumpkin. Simply put: I haven't seen many fireworks shows. I grew up in various rural parts of Saskatchewan, and the Canada Day shows usually amounted to a modest and fairly brief gathering at the local softball fields, a few Roman candles and maybe a minor-league boom or two.  Still, for all that, I have been assured by the other patrons of the event that it was an excellent showing, well worth the trip to the rooftop.  

The show lasted for a solid twenty minutes, and there were minor contributions to the sky-based cacophony from the locals throughout, in particular some jackass in one of the taller buildings to our immediate Southwest, who, from appearances, must have invested several thousand dollars in his/her own, private, reserve. He/she/jackass amused him/her/jackass self by firing these off for several hours prior to the actual, planned event, during the actual, planned event, and for several hours post the actual, planned event. I personally believe that this person was having a private competition with him/herself to see how many car alarms in the immediate vicinity could be set off simultaneously, or possibly to see if it was feasible to recreate the effects of playing Call of Duty on a powerful surround sound system, but on a neighbourhood scale, and until three in the morning. 

That aside, the evening had only one actual incident that I am aware of  - that being the several boats in lakeside storage that were lost to a conflagration started by someone's personal fireworks. No one was hurt, but there was a large, blackish cloud of smoke that hung low in the sky for quite some time. This Fourth of July thing is maybe a little dangerous, and I have to admit that I feel like the half a million bucks the city spent on the show could have, maybe, just maybe, been more responsibly spent. Still. Oooh. Aaahh. Pretty.

Okay, so I'm politically and socially jaded. This is what happens when you pay attention to the news.

Medically speaking, there is essentially nothing to report, aside from the steroids I am taking for GVHD being tapered off, coupled with the promises of being tapered off my antifungals, and, following that, a gradual tapering of my tacrolimus. I am most excited about that last, though as I am given to understand the tapering, it'll take about six months to complete. Oh, and my hair has started to grow back, albeit at a fairly relaxed pace. It's nice to have some colour on my head again, though. As much as I look okay as a baldilocks, people do tend to glance askance at a thirty-something, incredibly Caucasian male with a head that appears perpetually and perfectly shaven. As I said to my mother, in response to her apprehension the first time I ever buzzed my hair, "no, I am not a Nazi." [By apprehension, I mean that she flat out asked me if I was a Nazi. You did, too, mom. You were very concerned.]

Oh, and the Lunchbox Laboratory does take-out. This has not yet had a chance to alter my life substantially, but it could very easily do so.

Fourth of July, 2013: Seattle was attacked by the candy-cane people and repelled them with rainbow ak-ak from the lakeside batteries. Locals took to the skies in their autogyros to inspect the battle personally.