Happy Friday, dear readers!  Hope you had a lovely week.  Mine was up, down, and sideways, but mostly down, to be honest.  Even though I stopped taking the post-surgical hormones two months ago, I still feel funny, not to mention heavy.  I gained fifteen pounds and have not been able to shake it, despite my pretty rigorous routine.  A serious bummer but all part of my endometriosis education.  It goes a bit like this:

1. Suffer serious pain

2. Suffer mental anguish at the fact that the pain is disregarded by a couple doctors (NOT Petra Caruso – she’s the tops), and, despite myriad efforts over ten years, does not lessen.

3.  Deliver shock and awe over the severity and complexity of my case to a specialist dealing in these problems for more than thirty years.

4. Have fallopian tubes, the right ovary, uterus, and innumerable adhesions removed in a 6 1/2 hour surgery that was only meant to be two.

5. Lose so much blood in the process that standing for more than a minute on my own will be an event weeks in the making.

6. Take massive doses of progesterone to keep the endometriosis at bay while suffering through eighteen unpleasant side effects, including uber moodiness, headaches, sleeplessness, and the aforementioned weight gain.

7. Realize, holy smokes, this suff is hard, and depressing, and crappy, a real emotional roller coaster, and it isn’t over yet.  I’m really ready for it to be, really, really.

On top of this, one of my great pleasures, as you well know, is going to the movies.  Unfortunately there’s been a serious dearth of good films to see at the theaters I frequent.  I can’t even remember the last time I was at the Academy.  So, with all this in mind, imagine my delight, more like giddiness, when I saw that the Hollywood Theater had not one, but THREE movies this little lover of cinema was pining to see.  I went into paroxysms of glee people.  Glee!  I would have my friend Bridget attest to this fact, for she was on the other end of the phone at the moment of my great discovery, but she is a little shy of the blog, so you will just have to take my word for it.  I’m as honest as Abe.

One more bit before the movie, and yes, I do know I’ve gone on.  The hubster was going out of town for a couple of days on business (to Napa! Fine food, wine, and learning), so we decided to make a little date night of it.  We tried the new Foster Burger and enjoyed it quite a bit.  I had a ginormous wedge salad with fresh herbs, apples, blue cheese crumbles, and a crazy piece of pork belly fried in duck fat, light as air and oh my, my, ooh la, la!  The hubster had the expected burger, fries, and a chocolate milk shake, which he shared (I shared too).  All was good – the food, convivial service, and music on the hi-fi.  We’ll be back, definitely.

Of course, the movie was the icing on top.  It follows Jenny (a girl who reminds me an awful lot of myself at that age), a sweet, smart, and occasionally sassy girl on the verge of turning seventeen.  She’s a Francophile with a serious love for music, art, literature, and cigarettes.  Though she has someone who is sweet on her, she finds him boring, and is swept off her feet by a man who is probably twice her age.  He possesses everything she desires: culture, intelligence, good looks, and an impressive car to boot (a gorgeous Bristol 405, gulp), as well as some other dubious characteristics she is willing to overlook.  He delights her, spoils her, and takes her places no one else can.  All with her parents permission, I might add, for they are just as smitten as she.  As their romance progresses, Jenny questions the worthiness of an education over spending her life married to someone so worldly, raising some pretty interesting questions in the process.  Very well done.