0216 saturday in the park

Jim Y picked me up for our weekly walking exercises, but I was a bit tired so I didn’t make it all the way down the sidewalk like I usually do. The night before, it took me a couple of hours before I fell asleep. That must be why I was so tired in the morning.

I mentioned that it was a hot day. Jim observed that it wasn’t hot enough, since the women on the track were all covered up.

After the short walk in the park, we went to lunch at Coco’s. I had a Frisco Burger and fries and Jim had an appetizer sampler. After the meal, Jim was given a coupon for a discount on a dinner entree, but must be used after 5pm. He offered it to me. I told Jim to keep it, since I didn’t expect to be at a Coco’s after 5pm (little did I realize ...). Jim had me home around 1pm.

I wanted to attend the Saturday evening service at SBCC, so I had my parents drop me off just before 5pm. Pastor Gary continued his series on “National Treasure: God’s Book of Secrets” with a talk about the “Mystery of the Babylonian Harlot”. He read all of Revelation 17, with emphasis on Verse 5, that reads, “This title was written on her forehead:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

He talked about other scriptures like verses 4 and 18 in Revelation 17, and verses 10 and 16 in Revelation 18, that indicated that the Great Prostitute is really the city of Babylon, which is being rebuilt in Iraq.

I talked with a friend after the service. He said that he was kind of glad that the Great Prostitute was actually the city of Babylon, because otherwise he would have to check the forehead of every woman he meets. I replied that it would be especially difficult for him, because he can’t even look at a woman’s eyes because he is usually staring at her chest. He tried to dispute that fact until I asked him to tell me the eye color of the last three women he met.

I made my way to the tech booth to get ready for the Faith Lessons class at 7pm. After a bit of balancing and two steps, I settled into my wheelchair in the booth with the assistance of Alan, Karin and Mike Y. Mike also helped me to set up my Powerpoint presentation and the DVD on the booth PC. We had a few difficulties, so Steve T helped me to run the sound board during the class.

The class went well and Lesson One was moderated by John M, who kept the class on-track. About 40 people attended, although we expected a higher count. Maybe we’ll see some new faces next week when we present Lesson Two.

The class ended at 8:30pm and dessert was served by Kiyomi and Joy. I had pre-arranged for Mike & Carol to give me a ride home. Since it was early enough, we decided to grab a bite to eat. We ended up at Coco’s on Hawthorne Blvd and I found myself wishing that I had claimed that coupon from lunch. Fortunately, others had coupons, so we were all set.

There were twelve of us and we were split up into two tables. I had a bacon cheeseburger with sweet potato fries this time. But we lost track of time and finished up around 11pm. To save Mike & Carol from backtracking, Steve T gave me a ride home. I crawled into bed around midnight. It was a long day.

A YEAR AGO TODAY: I passed my first swallow test, which meant that I could have real food instead of liquid nutrient (read: Ensure) through a stomach tube. There were restrictions, such as the food must either be soft or “mechanically ground”. But I remember that I was being “tortured” each day because my roommates could eat but I could not. I got used to mashed potatoes and sweet potato puree. I remember that although the evening menus boasted of “sirloin tips” or “beef wellington”, it was always served to me in a bowl and looked like ground hamburger. But it tasted great and was a welcome feeling to be able to consume it through my mouth.